KATHMANDU: Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHAM) will provide training to trekking guides in view of Nepal Tourism Year 2011.

Chief executive officer (CEO) of the academy Ram Prasad Ghimire

said the training is aimed at producing sufficient manpower so that there

is no shortage of trekking guides during the tourism year.

He said the demand for trekking guides has gone up and the academy plans to train trekking guides in line with the government policy to make the tourism year a success. He said the academy has provided training to trekking guide candidates from eight districts including Mugu, Sindhupalchowk, Baglung, Syangja and Dolakha and is planning to hold training in eight more places. The academy is providing the training in association with Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN).

It said the demand for guides has gone up by 50 per cent. The academy said 80 persons got tour guide training and 400 got trekking guide training last year. In the current fiscal, 150 persons have taken tour guide training and 750 trekking guide training. Ghimire said there could be demand for 150 more tour guides and 1,000 trekking guides in the tourism year.

Nepal is looking for a ten-million tourists in NTY 2011, and to make it a success, trained manpower and infrastructuture is a must. More institutions should produce trained manpower and government should inprove basic infrastructure.