Kathmandu, January 28

After much dilly dallying, a board meeting of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) held today has finally appointed Dhananjay Regmi as the new chief executive officer of NTB.

The board meeting chaired by Tourism Secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari decided to appoint Regmi as CEO of NTB based on the fact that he had scored the highest marks among the three names recommended by a sub-committee formed to examine the applications to the posts.

Regmi from Syangja is an eminent mountain geomorphologist and glaciologist of Nepal. He had obtained his PhD in Environmental Earth Science from the Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan in 2006. Currently, Regmi is working as an adjunct professor in the Central Department of Geography and Environmental Science at Tribhuvan University and also acting as a vice-chairperson of Nepal Geographical Society in Kathmandu.

He is also the chairperson of Himalayan Research Expedition (HRE) and Himalayan Research Centre (HRC), Nepal, through which he is working for the sustainable development of tourism in the country.

Regmi had also worked as a technical adviser, glaciologist and glacier lake expert for the Imja Lake Lowering Project.

He has published several articles related to the environment and tourism in various journals.

The names of the three final candidates — including Dipak Bastakoti and Hikmat Singh Aiyer — were proposed on January 19, but the appointment process was delayed due to power play.

Regmi is the fifth CEO of NTB. Since its establishment in 1998, Pradeep Raj Pandey, Tek Bahadur Dangi, Prachanda Man Shrestha and Deepak Raj Joshi have served as CEO of NTB. The post was vacant after the tenure of former CEO Joshi ended on December 24.

Former CEO Joshi had also applied for the post, and while he was among the nine shortlisted candidates, he was unable to make it to the list of the top three.