Nepal participates in Adventure Travel Expo. Melbourne
Kathmandu : Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) bagged the first prize in the category of ‘Best Exhibit’ in Adventure Travel Expo held in Melbourne, Australia from February 23-24, 2013. NTB was awarded the prize for artistically designing Nepal stand and effectively exhibiting Nepal as a preferred holiday adventure destination among the prospective Australian visitors and exhibitors during the Expo.
NTB organized Nepal’s participation at the Expo where three private sector tourism companies from Nepal also exhibited. The three companies were: Langtang Ri Trekking, Nepal Mandala Travel & Tours and Nepal Social Treks and Expedition.
Mr. Sushil Ghimire, Chairman of NTB and Secretary at Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation led the Nepal delegation to the Expo. On the occasion, Mr. Ghimire met had extensive discussions with the key NRN personnel in Melbourne on the role of NRNs in promoting Nepal and expressed the full support and cooperation from the Government of Nepal and NTB in jointly promoting Nepalese culture and tourism in Australia.
Mr. Chandra Yonzon, Hon. Consul General of Nepal in Victoria, Mr. Drona Panta, NRN Coordinator in Melbourne and few other NRNs extended full time volunteer support and cooperation to NTB to make Nepal’s participation at the Expo successful.
This year, NTB successfully highlighted the ‘Great Himalayan Trail (GHT)’ at the Expo. The organizer had designed the two day Expo with full day seminars and presentations on various aspects of adventure tourism besides the regular Exhibition of tourism products by the countries from around the world. The two day seminars and presentations extensively educated the Australian travelers about various adventure activities being offered by the exhibiting countries.
Mr. Rohini Prasad Khanal, Sr. Officer of NTB made power point presentation on the ‘GHT’ during the Seminar highlighting its special features. The GHT is the exclusive new tourism brand of Nepal offering the longest high altitude trekking trail in the World. Stretching the distance of 1,700 km, GHT can be traversed from the East (Taplejung) to the West (Darchula) in around 150 days.
According to NTB statement , this year’s high level participation from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation similarly aimed at exploring the various avenues of Nepalese tourism promotions in Australia. This visit mainly studied on establishing the ‘Air-Service-Agreement (ASA) between Nepal and Australia to start direct fight between Australia and Nepal. At the moment, Thai Airways, Silk Air, China Southern and Dragon Air provide connectivity between Nepal and Australia via Bangkok, Singapore, China and Hong Kong respectively.
Earlier on February 23, 2013, Secretary Ghimire also attended the ‘Street Festival’ held in Geelong, a small city near Melbourne. The Festival was organized by the Nepalese Communities living in this region in order to promote Nepal as a land of Mt. Everest and birthplace of Lord Buddha. A street procession in the city centre was made on the occasion showcasing the multicultural features of Nepal.
Australia holds a great potential as a strong tourism market for Nepal. Nepal is popular as the mountaineering and trekking destination among the majority of the Australian visitors in Nepal. A total of 18,756 Australian tourist arrivals in Nepal were recorded in the year 2012 by air only with the increase of 15.1% increase over the year 2011.
