Kathmandu, July 8:

Nepal Association of Tour Operators (NATO) has recently given membership to Kuoni Destination Management, a strategic business unit of Kuoni Group — a multi-billion Swiss company.

Kuoni’s move in joining the NATO shows growing interest of foreign tour operators in Nepal as the tourism industry begins to bounce back with a vengeance. Many foreign tour operators are eying the Nepali market and trying to enter in a big way.

“This is an overwhelmingly positive development for the tourism industry to see foreign tour operators jockeying for selling Nepali tourism products,” states a press release. In the past, a huge number of tour operators erased Nepal from the roster of destinations and stopped promoting it.

In the meantime, the NATO and Kuoni have agreed to hold frequent familiarisation trips of tour operators to Nepal. This would help shore up confidence of international tour operators and boost the Nepali tourism industry.

Kuoni arranges and operates services throughout Europe, North America, India, eastern and southern Africa and China for and on behalf of some of the most esteemed tour operators and travel companies. It manages 1,45,000 travellers to the Indian sub-continent annually.

In addition, three more Nepali tour operators have received NATO membership: Vista Travels and Tours, a leading Spanish tourists handling company, Peace International Tours & Travels, a leading Italian tourists handling company and Fewa Tours & Travels.