Kathmandu, May 13:

The last day of the NATTA Himalayan International Travel Mart at Birendra International Convention Centre (BICC) proved to be a dampner for tour operators and stakeholders. For, the day saw demonstrations, diversions and road blocks across the city making commuting, near impossible.

“The attendance was disappointing today, obviously because of the chaos in the city,” lamented Subhash Nirola, officiating CEO of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) who managed to reach the venue after great difficulty through lanes and alleys.

The second international travel fair fell short of the expectations of organisers and stakeholders as the overall turnout remained low. Organised by Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents, tourism ministry, NTB and Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) the travel mart aimed at promoting not just international tourism but boosting domestic tourism products and providing a platform for tour operators of the country to share their ideas and problems.

While this was the second Himalayan international Travel Mart after the first one in 2005, it was the first time that NTB organised a National Tourism Fair alongside.

“The idea behind holding a National Tourism Fair simultaneously was to inform tour operators that we are beyond the golden triangle and the mountains. Moreover, we wanted operators from eastern and western parts of the country to get into networking and exchanging ideas,” informed the NTB official. As the curtains go down on this year’s hurriedly organised fair, organisers and stakeholders are planning to put their heads together to assess the overall performance, including the hits and misses of the travel mart of this magnitude.

Confessing that the event has failed to a certain extent to have the desired impact, Nirola clai-med it was a good beginning. “One needs to keep in mind that this was the first time that the private and public sector got together to conduct this fair. So, in the context, the outcome is qui-te encouraging,” he said.

“Of course there are lessons to be learnt,” he added.