Kathmandu, February 23:

Chief executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Tek Bahadur Dangi has said that adverse travel advisories issued by various countries in recent times have affected tourism industry here.

Dangi said this at a press meet organised by the NTB to inform about the PATA Gold Award 2006 (CD-ROM) received by NTB from among global competitors.

He said that due to travel advisories, there have been group cancellations that have eroded tourist numbers. He said that NTB has been intensifying its activities for the promotion of religious and regional tourism.

Talking about the CD-ROM made on Nepal, Dangi said, “NTB has been intensifying Nepal’s promotion in international destinations by utilising the latest technologies.” CD-ROM is one such step in this direction, he said.

According to NTB, the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s Gold Awards recognise exceptional achievements in a variety of endeavours, bringing acclaim to the best in the region’s travel industry. The winning projects set industry standards for excellence and innovation, serving as examples for others to follow.

Khusbu Sarkar Shrestha, team leader and creative director for the development of CD-ROM, on behalf of NTB said, “The CD-ROM is a multilingual interactive multimedia package (English, German and French) which has over 600 pages of text, 35 video clips, 450 high quality images, 25 maps, 20 music tracks, six screen savers, four virtual reality files, three auto running presentations of 10 minute each. The credit for being selected as the best CD-ROM goes to the team led by him including three other experts, he said.

PATA gold award 2006 was given on nine titles such as CD-ROM (NTB), Website (Tourism Malaysia), Travel Video (Yokoso, Japan), Tour Operator/Agent (Okinawa Tourist Service, Japan), Destination Country (New Zealand), Destination City (Sydney), Airlines (Singapore Airlines), Airport (International)-Munich AirportGermany and Business Hotel (Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia).