The Second NATTA Interactive meeting, with the sole agenda “Post-Earthquake Tourism Revival Planning”, was held on Tuesday at Hotel Annapurna in the afternoon. The meeting, chaired by President Mr. D.B. Limbu, went on for about two and half hours and was followed by Hi-Tea. The Chair welcomed the participants and highlighted on the urgency of holding the meeting at this time. Secretary General Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa presented her power-point deliberation to the gathering focusing specially on NATTA’s various activities immediately after the April 25th Earthquake which included the setting up of NATTA Relief Fund, distribution of relief materials to the victims of the great disaster in districts, viz., Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, Okhaldhunga, Parvat and Lalitpur. She also mentioned that NATTA delegates had called on the offices of various foreign embassies and had discussions with Ambassadors of United Kingdom, Thailand, Germany and South Korea in regard to what ought to be done to restore the tourism in Nepal that has hit hard by the natural disaster. NATTA delegates had also requested the ambassadors to relax the travel advisories of their respective countries. NATTA Secretary General also focused on what it has in the pipeline saying that the month of May was given for relief activities and the following months till the end of September has been marked as a period to prepare for a better bouncing back of tourism with all preparations. NATTA, meanwhile, will act as pressure group to all the concerned authorities of the government to come up with appropriate tourism policies to lure greater number of visitors to the country. NATTA will also concentrate on having a mega event in Kathmandu on 25th Sep. by holding its Convention and annual Carnival in the late afternoon. The Convention is expected to be joined in by leaders of the fellow tourism associations of the region besides representatives from UNWTO and UFTAA. Recently formed South Asian Tourism Federation meeting will also be held during the same time.
Mixed reactions and suggestions expressed on the occasion by Past Presidents of NATTA, and NATTA members were quite encouraging. NATTA Executive Board has taken special note of ideas expressed by them. Mr. Bhim Panta, Mr. Narendra Deo Bhatta, Mr. Raja Shakya, Mr. Lekha Nath Bhandari, Mr. Hari Bhakta Shrestha, Mr. Rabi Paudyal, Mr. Pradeep Acharya, Mr. Dawa Pemba, Mr. Bhagirath Sapkota, Mr. Ram Kaji Koney, Mr. Ang Tshering Sherpa, Mrs. Renu Bajracharya had expressed their views on how to carry on with the restoration program.
The 1st VP Mr. Shambhu Raj Pathak thanked all including the sponsors (Century Bank, Abacus-Nepal, Buddha Air and Manang Air) at the end of the program.