Kathmandu, February 28:

Nepal — the land of unique cultures and amazing adventures — stole the hearts of the local visitors to Nepal Tourism Board’s (NTB) promotional programme in Australia.

In the quest of increasing adventure travel trends and special interest in diverse Nepali cultures and adventure attractions for Australians, NTB participated in the Adventure Travel & Backpackers Expo in Melbourne from February 21 to 22.

Nepal’s myriad adventure attractions, its brand ‘Naturally Nepal ..once is not enough’, and Nepal Tourism Year 2011 (NTY-2011) were highlighted in the expo.

Awareness among Australians about Nepal is quite high and travel response was quite

encouraging.

A very positive sign was the absolute lack of queries about the safety and security situation. Deepak Raj Joshi, senior officer at the NTB, made the destination presentation to the expo visitors in a separate talk programme.

The Nepal Sales Mission, in cooperation with the embassy of Nepal in Canberra, also held a media and travel trade expo in Sydney on February 25. Addressing the packed

audience of the Australian travel trade and media fraternity, Nepal’s ambassador Yogendra Dhakal highlighted the positive environment in Nepal

for holidaying tourists in the changed socio-political context. He also emphasised his government’s commitment to facilitate and encourage more Australian travellers to visit Nepal.

Nandini Lahe-Thapa, director of Tourism Marketing-NTB, made a destination presentation on Nepali tourism attractions and NTY-2011.

After the very successful CA elections, declaration of a new republic and the announcement of Nepal Tourism Year 2011, NTB is focusing on key tourism markets to re-establish the image of Nepal as an ideal and memorable holiday destination.