Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, April 25:

In the backdrop of the deep trouble the hotel industry in Nepal finds itself in, the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) in cooperation with the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) discussed at length Nepal’s tourism potentials and the possible ways to promote it better in the global market. The discussion took place following a 10-day long tour of different tourist destinations

in Nepal by journalists visiting from the United Kingdom, at the invitation of HAN in coordination with Friends of Britain in Nepal (FBN). The visiting British journalists were Paul Balney, Nick Henegan, Elizabeth Davies and Geoff Maynard. The fact that the Nepal tourism sector is under crisis is clearly visible by the sharp fall in the number of tourists coming to Nepal, a situation further worsened by the bad coverage carried by the international media, said HAN in its statement. The visit of journalists from UK will clear some of these misunderstandings and help understand the real situation better, said the statement.

The first vice-president of HAN, Prakash Shrestha said that despite the improvement in law and order situation in the country, the government has not been successful in projecting Nepal’s positive image abroad through diplomatic missions scattered across the globe. It is high time that the government and the private sector join hands to improve the national image through various programmes, promotion and tourism-related activities, added the statement. The visiting journalists have, during their meetings with Nepali tourism entrepreneurs, have reported that they had not seen any abnormal situation in the country and the law and order situation is quite satisfactory, the HAN statement said. UK journalists have said that tourists are freely enjoying their visit to different places in Nepal. They have also assured to reflect the real situation prevailing in Nepal once they go back home, said HAN. The journalists visited Nagarkot, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan, some of the major tourist destinations in Nepal.