Kathmandu, January 20:

The Nepal Tourism Board and four private travel trade companies — Royal Mount Trekking, Cho-Oyu Trekking, Moonlight Tours and Travel, and Nature Trail Trekking and Expedition — represented Nepal in the Vankantiebeurs 2006 held in Utrecht, Netherlands, from January 10 to 15.

Nepal’s participation was aimed at repositioning the country as an exotic tourist destination in the Dutch market.

Held every year, Vakantiebeurs is the leading Dutch travel exhibition and one of the largest holiday fairs in the world. About 1.5 million people visited the fair and a significant number of them also visited the Nepali stall.

Various Dutch travel companies selling Nepal packages were also around the Nepali stall, according to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).

The fair was an ideal platform for Nepal to promote itself as an unique versatile holiday destination with major highlights like fascinating nature, rich culture, friendly people and tourism products like trekking, mountaineering, rafting, bungee-jumping, canoeing, paragliding and jungle safari.

Visitors made queries about trekking, mountaineering and jungle safari. People also wanted to know about Nepal’s cultural and historical attractions, adds the NTB.

Royal Nepalese ambassador Narayan Shumsher Thapa and honorary Royal Nepalese consul general for the Netherlands, Cas de Stoppelar, also visited the stall.

NTB officials and other representatives at the Nepali stall explained to the visitors that Nepal has always remained a safe tourist destination despite its political problems.

Travel companies from different countries were also assured that Nepal was a safe destination for tourists.

The promotion effort will definitely bring good outcomes by creating a positive image of the country and will have a positive bearing on the travel trend figures in coming days, says the NTB.