Kathmandu, December 8:

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) welcomed its newly appointed board members yesterday.

Prasiddha Bahadur Pandey, Rajan Sakya, Ganesh Prasad Simkhada, Agni Prasad Kandel and Nimi Sherpa have been appointed by the government to represent the private sector in the tourism industry. The government nominated them on December 1 as per the provision of Nepal Tourism Board Act 1997.

The new board members took the oath of office in the presence of Ram Chandra Man Singh, chairman of NTB and Secretary at Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. Welcoming them, NTB CEO Prachanda Man Shrestha said that their expertise would help boost Nepali tourism.

Prasiddha Bahadur Pandey, who is associated with the Nepali tourism industry for three decades, is the president of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN). This is his second inning as an NTB board memeber.

Rajan Sakya is the CEO of KGH Group including two travel agencies. Ganesh Prasad Simkhada is the ED of First Environmental Trekking (P) Ltd. Agni Prasad Kandel, MD of Nasa Trekking Equipment Stores, Pokhara, is in the tourism industry from 1998. Similarly, Nimi Sherpa, MD of Alpine Trekking & Expedition (P) Ltd, has wide experience in Nepali tourism since 1976 and is also a mountaineer.

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) is a body established under the Nepal Tourism Board Act 1997 and regulated by the Nepal Tourism Board Regulation 1999. It has its own crieteria of

selection of CEO and private sector representatives, according to the NTB Act 1997.