After the formation of the new NATTA Executive (2020-2022), a series of Welcome programs had been hosted. Gurung Tourism Entrepreneur's Association hosted a program on 21 June 2022 in welcoming NATTA Executive Members who were newly elected on 31st March 2022 at 55th AGM and Election. On this occasion, the President of NATTA expressed gratitude and committed to working jointly in every way for the tourism industry.
After the formation of the new NATTA Executive (2020-2022), a series of Welcome programs had been hosted. Gurung Tourism Entrepreneur's Association hosted a program on 21 June 2022 in welcoming NATTA Executive Members who were newly elected on 31st March 2022 at 55th AGM and Election. On this occasion, the President of NATTA expressed gratitude and committed to working jointly in every way for the tourism industry.
A three-day Western Travel Mart on the theme: Nepalgunj Gateway of Karnali successfully concluded in Nepalgunj, Banke from March 10 till March 12 2022. Western Travel Mart was an initiative of the Nepal Tourism Board and Nepalgunj Sub Metropolitan City Office, in the coordination of NATTA Banke Chapter, Tourism Development Forum-Banke and HAN Banke. A Western Travel Mart has been organised for the first time in Nepalgunj to promote the tourism destinations of western Nepal and also to increase the tourism activities by promoting tourism in Nepalgunj City and its adjoining areas as well as Karnali. The Mart had more than 150 tourism entrepreneurs from India and Nepal participated in the program. The entrepreneurs visited from Mumbai, Gujarat, Punjab, Lucknow, Kanpur, Delhi, Jaipur and other places of India and all the Provinces of Nepal. Chief Guest of the event, Chief of the local Raute community, Mr. Surya Narayan Shahi Read More
Nepal Association of Tour & Travel Agents (NATTA) and Nepal Tourism Board along with ten private sector delegates attended the Bangladesh- Nepal Tourism Exchange and B2B organized and hosted by the Bangladesh Tourism Board to revive tourism and encourage arrivals between both countries. The two day event was officially launched on March 2, 2022, at Hotel Intercontinental, Dhaka. The first half of the event was a plenary session with a destination presentation by the CEO of Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) Mr. Javed Ahmed and Sr. Director Ms. Nandini Lahe-Thapa of Nepal Tourism Board.
Tara Air has started operating regular flights to Ilam’s Phalgunanda Sukilumba Airport. Starting Wednesday, Tara Air will use a Twin Otter plane to operate two flights a week to the airport. It would take 55 to 58 minutes to fly to Ilam from Kathmandu. The Twin Otter plane can be used for the flight could carry 14 passengers while flying to Ilam and 17 passengers while returning to Kathmandu. Meanwhile, residents of the district, and especially those who had provided their land for the construction of the airport, are happy about the beginning of commercial flights. To this effect, Ilam Municipality has taken some steps. The municipality is said to have reached an agreement with Tara Air to pay for the seats that go unoccupied for the next 12 weeks. It has allocated Rs. 1 million for that. Locals said that the beginning of regular flights to Ilam will also Read More
NATTA Executive Committee appointed Mr. Uttam Prasad Devkota as the new Chief Executive Officer of NATTA from 13th February 2022. A committee had been formed for the appointment of the new CEO under the Chairmanship of Secretary General Mr. Sudhir Kumar Upadhyay with the committee members; Mrs. Jiswan Tuladhar Shrestha, Secretary, Mr. Kumar Mani Thapaliya, Treasurer, and Executive Members Mrs. Laxmi Karki Adhikari and Mr. Bharat Jung Pandey. The vacancy had been announced previously via Merojob.com. After gathering the number of candidates via merojob round of Interview Sessions were held.
Under the sponsorship of the Nepal Tourism Board, a helicopter tour will be organized to promote the Badimalika region of Nepal’s far-west region. According to the press conference held on Friday at NTB by the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), the tour will be organized in the first phase for 10 days beginning February 13th with various packages. The package will be organized in collaboration with NTB, Far Western Province Government, NATTA Far Western Province, Manten Helicopter Pvt. Ltd., Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry as well as Hotel Professional Federation of Nepal, Far Western Province, Dhangadhi and Mahendranagar to Zigrana, Dipayal Badimalika Dipayal, Dipayal Khaptad Badimalika, and Sanfebagar Badimalika Sanfebagar. According to the organizers, depending on the location, 12,000 to 40,000 packages will be distributed to passengers. Board member of NTB, Krishna Shah stated at the press conference that domestic tourism must be mobilized Read More
As received the information from French Embassy, France has decided to temporarily require the Nepali nationals holding an ordinary passport to possess an airport transit visa for transits carried out on the European territory of France starting from January 13.
The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) on January 9 held discussions with organizations and individuals concerned with the tourism sector due to the rise of the new variant Omicron of COVID-19. In the program, private sector organizations and tourism entrepreneurs have suggested making tourism viable by following the health standards. They also urged the government to take such a decision saying that the country’s tourism sector collapsed in the past due to the sudden lockdown. They emphasized the need to vaccinate all to keep the tourism sector alive. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Dhananjay Regmi, CEO of NTB, said that the board conducted various programs in the past despite the contagion of COVID-19 and limited resources. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Achyut Guragain, President of NATTA, said that there is no alternative but to increase booster vaccines against COVID and make tourism viable by adhering to health standards. Other participants also Read More
NATTA projected to organize a tourism Sales Mission in Colombo, Sri Lanka promoting with a special focus on pilgrimage and leisure tourism from 15-18 November 2021. A group of nineteen Nepalese tourism stakeholders was led by NATTA comprising tour operators, trekking agencies and hoteliers to participate in the Sales Mission. The main event was held on 16th November 2021 at Ramada by Wyndham, Colombo where a B2B session was organized followed by Nepal Night Program. The program had the participation of Sri Lankan tour operators, officials from the Embassy of Nepal in Sri Lanka, officials from Sri Lankan Tourism Promotion Bureau, Former President of TAASL and UFTAA Board Director, an official of Sri Lankan Airlines and media people. During the B2B session, tourism fraternities from both countries enhanced their mutual contacts and shared their business prospects and possible areas of cooperation for the benefit of both sides. As Sri Lanka is Read More
Newly appointed Secretary of Tourism, MoCTCA Mr. Maheshwor Neupane visited at NATTA Secretariat on 16 December 2021. At the meeting, Mr. Neupane was welcomed by the Executive Board of NATTA and had a short goodwill discourse regarding the recommendations on tourism. During the meeting, there had been discussions on the upcoming Tourism Act, Tourist Bus Terminal, Leave Travel Allowance, Dollar Exchange, participation in national and international Travel Fairs and NATTA's one of the coveted event Buddhist International Travel Mart (BITM). Present in the meeting were Senior Vice President Mr. Binay Basnet, Secretary General Mr. Sudhir Kumar Upadhyay, Treasurer Mr. Kumar Mani Thapaliya, Jt. Treasurer Ms. Yubika Bhandari and Officiating CEO Ms. Shradha Chhetri. Mr. Neupane assured to support the travel trade sector in the progression of tourism in Nepal and showed eagerness to work together with NATTA in the coming days.
Association of Buddhist Tour Operators (ABTO) celebrated its 4th International Convention on December 10-12, 2021, in Bodh Gaya with a three-day conference on the Theme ‘2,566 Years of Buddhism: Its Relevance Today. Representatives from Nepal Tourism Board, NATTA, TAAN and HAN participated in the event. While addressing the event, the delegation from Nepal participating in the event emphasised the formulation of a common action plan to promote religious tourism between Nepal and India that will benefit both countries as they share a centuries-old close bond and similar culture and religion. He emphasised cooperation to promote religious tourism in the countries as both Nepal and India are connected to issues related to Lord Buddha. And it would help with the economic and social development of both the countries. At the convention, experts tabled various working papers and a business-to-business session was also organised during the event. The program was coordinated by Read More
A Joint Meeting with the Executive Board of NATTA and Nepal Airlines Executive Committee was held at Nepal Airlines Office. On the occasion, NATTA also congratulated the newly appointed Executive Chairman of Nepal Airlines Mr. Ubaraj Adhikari. The meeting was a get-together for mutual relation-building and idea-sharing. President of NATTA, Mr. Achyut Guragain, on the meeting, emphasized that the national flag carrier's connectivity should be given priority to make the promotional programs of Nepal a grand success. Mr. Guragain highlighted the importance of a strong national flag carrier to promote Nepal as a tourism destination. He suggested NAC operate services to other tourist generating cities in India and China and long hauls traditional markets like Europe, Japan and Australia. He also focused on aggressive promotion, joint marketing strategy, packaging and expanding reliable domestic services as well. Lastly, Mr. Guragain and Executive Members wrapped up the meeting by highlighting the major Read More
NATTA welcomed the Delegation of Bangladesh at Secretariat on December 09, 2021. NATTA Executives and the Delegation also had discussions on further tourism potentials between both friendly countries. And discussed to be associated with the several tourism events that would be supportive in the promotion of both countries. The delegation had visited Nepal on a four day FAM Trip travelling to several popular destinations nearby Kathmandu.
NATTA in coordination with Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) led a group of twenty one Nepalese tourism stakeholders comprising of tour operators, trekking agencies and hoteliers to participate in the Sales Mission Program in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The B2B exchange programme and Nepal Evening Program was organized on 23rd November at Hotel Sarina, Dhaka. During the B2B program with the Nepalese participants, there were several local travel/tour operators of Bangladesh. The program had been a forum for Nepalese travel and tourism businesses to showcase their products, network, local contacts and negotiate business deals. In the evening, Nepal Evening Program was organized inviting all the travel agents, tour operators, national/regional tourist organizations, government tourism departments, GDS, hotel resorts, adventure tourism, airlines etc. Starting with the welcome speech by Mr. Kumar Rai, Chief of Mission, Embassy of Nepal in Bangladesh, he assured the tour operators that the Embassy will extend all possible supports for Read More
In developing Tourism Recovery Strategy and as a part of the Sustainable Tourism Livelihood Recovery Project, a meeting was held with the tourism delegation at NATTA Secretariat on 18th November 2021. The COVID had hit hard especially in tourism and the industry had been forced to shut down. As such to facilitate the industry, the meeting interacted on what we can oversee or prepare for Sustainable Tourism based on Short Term, Mid Term and Long Term. Several concepts and thoughts had been shared during the meeting.
STLRP provided short-term employment to nearly 6,000 tourism workers and helped build and renovate 19 hiking routes, 15 kilometres of cycling tracks, 132 kilometres of foot trails, six tourist shelters and 18 wooden bridges. The project had been implemented in partnerships with 38 local levels of 23 districts. With the motive of employing the tourism workers and also cleaning heritage sites and also in aim of promoting the different destinations, the Nepal Association of Tour & Travel Agents (NATTA) in collaboration with the Nepal Tourism Board and the United Nations Development Program initiated the short-term employment work for tourism worker’s associated in the chosen destinations where around 20-30 workers had been involved in the sites. NATTA had completed the Sustainable Tourism and Recovery Project in eight destinations. The project employed more than 300 tourism workers in different destinations for around 10 days in various infrastructure development, cleaning and maintenance programmes. Read More
We all are aware, COVID had hit hard in the tourism sector globally. The tourism sector that holds immense potential for the Nepalese economy can provide stimulus to other sectors through backward and forward linkages. Promoting the country in the international market of Nepalese tourism is one of the keys to the recovery of the industry. #NepalisOpen Government of Nepal waived the restrictions for the foreign citizens into Nepal for the travellers who are fully vaccinated. Nepal has been welcoming the tourists and every service is operated under strict COVID 19 Health Protocol. In this regard, an Interaction program was organized with the Delegates of Bangladesh, Nepal Tourism Board, NATTA and Tourism Entrepreneurs on 24th October at Aloft Hotel for the Missionary programs to be organized bilaterally. As a part of the revival program and letting the countries know, Nepal is Open, the interaction projected to organize a Read More
The 25th Annual General Meeting of the Kathmandu Environmental Education Project (KEEP) was held on 8th October 2021. A meeting of the General Assembly held in Kathmandu on Friday also unanimously selected 11 members of the working committee. Honors and certificates were handed over to the organization and individuals who had supported KEEP on the occasion. President of NATTA Mr. Achyut Guragain and Secretary General Mr. Sudhir Kumar Upadhyay along with representatives of various organizations participated in the event and expressed their views.
Tourism industries in Sri Lanka and Nepal have welcomed the recently started direct flights operated by Sri Lankan Airlines connecting Colombo and Kathmandu, thus removing a long felt impediment to promote tourism between the two countries. In this backdrop, Sri Lanka Embassy in Nepal joined hands with Nepal Tourist Board (NTB) and Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), to promote tourism between Sri Lanka and Nepal and explore opportunities for collaborative activities. A webinar was held on 30th September 2021 hosted by Nepal Tourist Board, bringing together the tourism promotion institutions and tourism industry stakeholders from Sri Lanka and Nepal onto one platform. The industry representatives welcomed the direct flight and discussed opportunities for collaboration to promote tourism, as well as the measures that need to be in place to instil confidence in customers travelling during the pandemic. Delivering the opening remarks, Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board, Dr. Dhananjay Read More
