Nepal’s sales mission to China concludes

KATHMANDU: Nepal Tourism Board with the cooperation of China Southern and six prominent tour operators who have long experience in serving Chinese tourists organized a Nepal Sales Mission in PR China, says a press release from Nepal Tourism Board. The first session was held in Guangzhou on April 7th. The more then seventy participants showed a strong interest in organizing groups from this southern city on the Pearl River Delta to Kathmandu and other places in Nepal such as the Lord Buddha’s Birthplace, Lumbini and adventure safari in Chitwan National Park.


The second stop was Hangzhou on April 8th. Despite the Tea Festival celebrations held in the city during that particular week, the Nepal sales mission was very well received with over fifty Chinese outbound travel agents plus representatives from Hangzhou Tourism Administration and members of the media. The former Ambassador to Nepal, His Excellency Mr. Li De Biao, spoke with great warms about the country and the people that became close to his heart while he was posted in Nepal.


The final stop of this sales mission was Beijing on April 10th where the sales mission was organized in close collaboration with the Nepalese Embassy. His Excellency Ambassador Mr. Tanka Karki graced this event with his presence and delivered the welcome remarks highlighting the long and friendly relationship between both countries and the fact that Nepal has the privilege of being China’s closest neighbor and one of the early ADS countries. His Excellency Ambassador Mr. Karki also mentioned that Nepal being the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha is also the gateway to the Buddhist world.


Over 110 travel trade members and media attended the Beijing event that was a resounding success. Following the presentation, many Chinese tour operators had one-on-one meetings with their Nepali counterparts asking questions about the unmatched natural and cultural treasure troves Nepal offers, as well as specific points on activities like ultra light flight, mountain flight, paragliding, hiking trekking in the renown Everest and Annapurna regions, rafting, jungle safari and others. The Nepalese tour operators also had the opportunity to provide more information on regular and tailor made packages.


The sales mission was also an ideal platform to update Chinese travel trade and leading media on “Nepal Tourism Year 2011”, a campaign whose goal is to achieve a substantial growth in the national economy at large and tourism industry in particular through new programs in the wake of historical transformation that took place in Nepal over the past few years. It has a clear target of bringing in one million international visitors by the year 2011.


The tourism promotion campaign of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 primarily focuses in promoting community based and home-stay tourism to involve the local people and backward communities in the tourism activities. Nepal will be emphasizing this campaign in the regional markets like China, the only market which is growing despite the economic recession. Asked about the significance of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 in China, Mr. Kashi Raj Bhandari, Director of Research, Planning and Monitoring Department at NTB, stated NTB’s commitment in making it a great success in China. He also emphasized that support from the Chinese travel trade will be instrumental in achieving this goal and that tourism cooperation between the two countries is expected to reach new heights in the coming years.

Kathmandu is well connected by China Southern Airlines twice a week, Air China connects Kathmandu to major Chinese cities via Lhasa with two flights a week and Dragonair has direct connections from many Chinese cities via Hong Kong to Kathmandu. Besides, Thai Airways International connects China with Kathmandu with nine flights a week via Bangkok.

Nepal Tourism Board, in partnership with private sector travel trade industry, Nepal Embassy in China and the Nepal Tourism Board Representative Agency in China, B&B International, has been organizing various promotional programs in China since 2000. Over the years NTB participated in all important travel fairs in China like BITE, CITM, GITF and WTF, organized press and tour operators meet, and sales missions on a regular basis. In addition, a series of Media and Tour Operators Familiarization Trips to Nepal have been organized in the past and will continue even more vigorously in the future.

All these positive promotional activities resulted in the remarkable growth of 62 % in the Chinese tourist arrivals to Nepal in 2007 compared to the previous year. Although, 2008 has witnessed a minor decline compared to 2007, the potential for growth is promising thanks to the “Nepal Tourism Year 2011” campaign.