Kathmandu, February 17

Tourism entrepreneurs from Bangladesh have stressed on adopting ‘neighbour first’ policy to promote tourism in the region.

Speaking at a programme here today, they suggested adopting the ‘neighbour first’ policy to attract more tourists from within the SAARC countries rather than the developed countries in the context of increasing importance of Nepal in the world tourism market.

Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh Foundation of Tourism Development Raju Iquram said Nepal holds vast possibilities for attracting a large number of tourists from its neighbourhood.

“We only tend to focus on Europe and America as the source countries for tourists and do not look into the neighbourhood,” he said.

He added, “actually, a huge number of tourists from neighbouring countries could be brought in.”

Iquaram said the earthquake had not caused damage to Nepal’s tourism as was made out to be in the media, adding that Bangladesh and Nepal could collaborate on tourism promotion.

Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh Media Limited Sayed Ishtiaque Reza Ekattor stressed the need for the two countries to work in tandem for carrying out promotional activities.

Chief Executive Officer of the Nepal Tourism Board Deepak Raj Joshi said Nepal’s tourism sector was waiting to welcome more tourists.

He expressed confidence that Nepal could become the regional tourism hub in the SAARC region.

A team comprising tourism entrepreneurs, tour operators and media group from Bangladesh toured major tourist destinations of Nepal a few days ago.

They visited Kathmandu, Pokhara, Chitwan and Lumbini and also shared their experience with various Nepali tourism bodies.

CEO of Avibadan Holidays Umesh Gupta, who organised the programme, stated that the Bangladeshi team had been invited on an observation tour to give a positive message, not only to the neighbouring countries but also to the entire world, that Nepal is still a prime tourism destination and that earthquake has not totally ruined the country’s natural as well as physical beauty.

Many tourists are still visiting Nepal.