Kathmandu, September 19:

Nepali travel tourism trade bodies along with Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) jointly participated at the JATA Congress and World Travel Fair 2007 held in Tokyo Japan, from September 13 to 16.

According to a NTB press release issued today, a large number of exhibitors from all

over the world participated at the JATA World Travel Fair. Organised by the Japan Association of the Travel Agents (JATA), more than 107,068 travel trade and consumers visited the fair this year.

NTB participated at the fair with its tourism branding theme — Naturally Nepal,

once is not enough. A large number of people from the travel trade industry as well as consumers visited the Nepal stand and collected latest information on Nepal.

The changed political situation of the country seemed to have a positive impact among Japanese travellers and increased confidence which may well reflect on the arrival figures in the coming season, says NTB. Nepal’s participation at this tourism forum is expected to bring out positive outcomes.

Japan ranks as one of the top tourist source markets in terms of outbound numbers as well as tourism spending. According to Japan Tourism Marketing Corp, the Japanese outbound market has grown significantly due to the rebounding travellers’ confidence and the departure figure of Japanese nationals this year is expected to reach the level of 2000 when 17,81,8590 Japanese travelled abroad.

Japanese tourist arrivals to Nepal till August 2007 stands at 12,835 (by air only). The small number shows that Nepal is yet to tap the potential of Japanese tourism market which stands as a steady and reliable source market for tourist destinations all over the world.

In the year 2000, more than 41,000 Japanese visited Nepal and owing to the tarnished image of the country due to negative media publicity as well as the internal as well as external factors, the number declined by almost 50 per cent in the following years.

This downfall in arrival points toward an immediate need of coordinated promotional interventions in order to regain the confidence of Japanese visitors.

Binay Prakash Shrestha, director and Samir Bajracharya, senior officer represented NTB and from the private sector Nature Trail Trekking, Orion Travel and Hotel Malla joined at the event. According to JATA, the next JATA World Travel Fair will take place in Tokyo, Japan from September 18-21, 2008.