Nepal tourism peaks
January 6, 2012 by AFP
Filed under News, South Asia
KATHMANDU, 6 January 2012: Nepal had its best ever year for tourism in 2011, with most of the growth coming from neighbouring India and China, according to official figures released earlier this week.
Once a must-see destination on the famed “hippy trail”, Nepal was dealt a severe blow during the decade-long civil war that ended in 2006, with tourist numbers dropping dramatically.
But the new data show a marked recovery, with tourism accounting for seven percent of gross domestic product — more than US$1 billion — last year. Read more
Tour flight crashes in Nepal
KATHMANDU, 26 September 2011 – A small plane taking tourists on a sightseeing trip around Mount Everest crashed into a hillside near the Nepalese capital Kathmandu on Sunday, killing all 19 people on board.
The Buddha Air Beechcraft plane, carrying 10 Indians, two Americans, one Japanese citizen and three local passengers, came down in heavy rain and fog at Godavari, about 10 km (six miles) from Kathmandu.
The three Nepalese crew also died in the accident as the plane smashed into forested slopes, leaving the fuselage broken into several pieces. Read more
Nepal’s appeal low in Thai market
June 30, 2011 by Paphada Apimonton
Filed under News, Tour Operators
BANGKOK, 30 June 2011 – Nepal is a difficult to sell as a single destination for Thai outbound travellers, travel agents told TTR Weekly earlier this week.
Commenting on Nepal’s Visit Year 2011, promotional road show that swung through Southeast Asia earlier in the month, Bangkok-based travel agents said it was almost an impossible task to promote the country as a single destination in the Thai market.
Travellers prefer a combined tour that includes India and focuses on the Buddhist heritage trail, tracing the life of the Lord Buddha at sites in northern India and southern Nepal. Read more
Nepal chases tourism dollars
June 23, 2011 by Paphada Apimonton
Filed under News
BANGKOK, 23 June 2011 – Nepal Tourism Board targets an ambitious 1 million tourists this year on the back of an obscure Nepal Tourism Year 2011 campaign, largely ignored by the trade until last week’s regional promotion.
While painting a glowing picture in official statements, the country remains under the hammer of negative travel advisories that warn of demonstrations and shut downs.
But the NTB’s road show presentations in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore claimed the country could almost double arrivals this year. Read more
Casinos in Nepal may close
February 16, 2011 by AFP
Filed under News, South Asia
KATHMANDU, 16 February 2011 – Nepal’s casinos, which draw thousands of foreign tourists each year, are under threat after tax investigators recommended eight out of 10 of them be closed, an official said Tuesday.
Gambling is illegal in Nepal, but eight hotels in the capital Kathmandu and two in the resort town of Pokhara operate casinos under special government licences that only allow them to admit foreign customers.
“We have recommended the tourism ministry revoke the licences of eight casinos that have failed to pay the dues worth 30 million rupees (US$4.9 million),” said Department of Revenue Investigation director general Mahesh Dahal.
Nepal’s tourism up 15%
KATHMANDU, 4 January 2011 – A record number of tourists flew to Nepal last year, with most of the growth coming from neighbouring India and China, according to official figures released Monday.
The Nepal Tourism Board said the arrival of 448,769 foreign visitors at the country’s only international airport in 2010, 15% more than in 2009, showed tourism had recovered from the impact of a 10-year civil war.
Villagers shut down bungee bridge
KATHMANDU, 23 December 2010 – Angry protesters have closed a famous bungee jump in Nepal in a dispute over ownership of the bridge from which tourists dive into a narrow gorge while attached to an elastic cord.
The Last Resort bungee jump, 160 metres (520 feet) above the raging Bhote Kosi river, boasts one of the longest free-fall bungee dives in the world, but the row has brought the high-adrenaline action to a halt.
The suspension bridge was purpose-built for bungee jumping in 2000, close to the border with Tibet, by a private company that had scoured the region for the perfect adventure sports location.
No survivers in Nepal airline crash
KATHMANDU, 16 December 2010 – All 22 passengers and crew on board a small passenger plane that crashed in a mountainous area in eastern Nepal were killed, police said Thursday, after a rescue team reached the site.
The Twin Otter plane carrying three crew and 19 passengers including one American smashed into a mountainside shortly after taking off from a small airstrip 140 kilometres (90 miles) east of Kathmandu on Wednesday afternoon.
“We have recovered 20 bodies. We are still searching for the other two, but we can be sure there are no survivors,” police spokesman Bigyan Raj Sharma told AFP.
Creeper takes over Chitwan
CHITWAN, 15 December 2010 – The lush jungles of the Chitwan national park in southern Nepal are among the last remaining refuges of the endangered royal Bengal tiger and the rare one-horned rhino.
But conservationists say the huge wildlife reserve is under threat from a foreign invader that is destroying its delicate eco-system, with potentially catastrophic implications for the animals that live there.
Over the past decade and a half, a non-native creeper dubbed “mile-a-minute” for its rampant growth has covered large swathes of the 932-square-kilometre (579-square-mile) park, a major tourist attraction and UNESCO world heritage site.
Casino crackdown in Nepal
KATHMANDU, 12 November 2010 – Police in Nepal have launched a crackdown on casino operators, charging them with breaking the law by allowing local people to gamble, Kathmandu police chief Bhog Bahadur Thapa said Thursday.
Gambling is illegal in Nepal, but eight hotels in the capital Kathmandu operate casinos under special government licenses that only allow them to admit foreign customers.
