KATHMANDU: Tourism entrepreneurs are seeking to make Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011 the ‘Year of Celebration’ and celebrate tourism this year like never before. The NTY programme implementation committee today at a press briefing on NTY 2011’s official launch urged all Nepalis and concerned bodies to come together to make NTY 2011 a huge success. It asked all political parties, industrial bodies, entrepreneurs and the media to come together for the purpose.

The official launch of NTY 2011 scheduled for February 26 at Tundikhel includes a peace torch being brought from Lumbini to Kathmandu and the NTY 2011 secretariat head passing the torch to a renowned personality along with parades from six different places of the valley. After the Kathmandu launch, similar programmes will be organised from East to West — Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birgunj, Chitwan, Pokhara, Bhairahawa, and Nepalgunj.

Speaking at the briefing, NTY 2011 programme implementation committee national coordinator Yogendra Shakya, said that the success of the programme would elevate Nepal’s image by re-branding it a peaceful country. “There must be commitment from all to make the event a grand success,” he said. He said there will be written commitments from all major parties’ leaders.

NTY 2011 secretariat has asked people to show their patriotism by hoisting the national flag at their homes and workplaces from February 19.

NT’s promo discounts

Kathmandu: On the occasion of its sixth anniversary, Nepal Telecom (NT) has announced promotional discount offers in its services starting from February 13 to April 13. Nepal Telecom will grant discount Rs 900 in PSTN connection charge, exempt the fine of due payment since mid-July 2009 for those making the payment. SMS charge from GSM and CDMA within the company network will be 50 paisa per SMS. Currently, the charge is Re 1. The charge for GSM 3G Prepaid Video call which is Rs 10 per minute will now be Rs 5 per minute while postpaid charge will be Rs 4 per minute from February 13. MMS charge for GSM 3G Postpaid will be Rs 2.50 and for prepaid the charge will be Rs 3 per SMS. Starting from February 13, Data Call and Video Streaming Charges of GSM 2G and 3G is now Rs 0.01 per 2 kilobyte which was earlier Rs 0.01 per kilobyte.

New airlines in Nepali skies

KATHMANDU: “Nepal will not have an accessibility problem from 2011,” said Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) secretary Nagendra Prasad Ghimire on Wednesday. Speaking at a press meet, Ghimire said that observing the surge of both national and international airlines by 2011 there will be a total of 32 airlines with international flights. According to Ghimire, a number of international airlines are showing interest in operations here. “Spirit of Manila and Oman Air are new applicants while Malaysian Airlines and another Malaysian airlines Air Asia are doing feasibility studies,” he said adding that currently there are 25 international flight operators. MoTCA recently issued a 45 days’ notice to domestic operators to apply for international operations. Airlines that active for five years and with five aircraft are eligible.