A three- member NATTA Delegation met Mr. John Rankin, the acting ambassador of the UK at British Embassy last Thursday, the 28th May '15 at his office in Lainchaur. The delegation was led by NATTA President Mr. D.B. Limbu. Secretary General Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa and CEO Prof. Dr. Hari Sarmah were in the delegation. The acting ambassador of Britain was apprised of the current scenario of tourism in the country in the aftermath of the disastrous earthquake of April 25. NATTA President expressed thanks and gratitude on behalf of Nepalese Tourism fraternity for all support and cooperation extended to Nepal as relief for the earthquake victims by the friendly people and the Government of Britain. Secretary General Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa focused on the number of British nationals coming to Nepal as visitors. In 2012 the figure of the arrivals from Britain stood at a little more than 41 thousand and Read More
NATTA Executive Committee led by President D.B Limbu met the newly appointed Hon’ble Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Thursday, the 28th May’15 at his office in Singhadurbar. NATTA Delegates congratulated and expressed their best wishes to the Minister for a successful tenure of office. NATTA President on behalf of the association presented a twenty-eight point letter of Grievances to Hon’ble Minister and requested the minister to address NATTA Grievances for the betterment of tourism that has deteriorated to a great extent due to the disastrous April 25 Earthquake. President Limbu focused on the need of waiving visa fees for the tourists, relaxation of Landing, Parking and navigation fee for the Int’l Airlines at TIA, creating provision of soft loan for the tourism stakeholders and dissemination of positive message about Nepal through international media etc. NATTA Delegation consisted of 2nd VP Mr. C.N Pandey, Secretary Mr. Ramesh Thapa, Treasurer Mr. Narayan P. Gurung Koney, Read More
NATTA Executive Committee led by President D.B Limbu met the newly appointed Hon’ble Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Thursday, the 28th May’15 at his office in Singhadurbar. NATTA Delegates congratulated and expressed their best wishes to the Minister for a successful tenure of office. NATTA President on behalf of the association presented a twenty-eight point letter of Grievances to Hon’ble Minister and requested the minister to address NATTA Grievances for the betterment of tourism that has deteriorated to a great extent due to the disastrous April 25 Earthquake. President Limbu focused on the need of waiving visa fees for the tourists, relaxation of Landing, Parking and navigation fee for the Int’l Airlines at TIA, creating provision of soft loan for the tourism stakeholders and dissemination of positive message about Nepal through international media etc. NATTA Delegation consisted of 2nd VP Mr. C.N Pandey, Secretary Mr. Ramesh Thapa, Treasurer Mr. Narayan P. Gurung Koney, Read More
NATTA had a meeting with the delegates of ILO on 24th May'15 at NATTA Secretariat. The meeting basically focused on the scenario of the laborers who suffered on the massive 25th April Earthquake. As a result of the devastating scope of the earthquake, it has been estimated that more than four million workers may have been affected. ILO will contribute its expertise to estimate job losses, recovery needs of enterprises and other employment issues to ensure sustainable recovery. There is a need to replenish assets and skills of small and medium enterprises in sectors such as tourism and other services. Throughout, the ILO will be advocating for fair wages, decent and safe working conditions and the empowerment of disadvantaged groups. NATTA 2nd V.P Mr. C.N Pandey, Secretary General Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa, Secretary Mr. Ramesh Thapa and Treasurer Mr. Narayan P. Gurung Koney were present at the meeting and expressed their perspectives on it.
Representatives of NATTA attended a couple of meetings of Tourism Recovery Committee (TRC) held in Tourism department. The meeting is led and coordinated by Director General of Tourism Department, Similarly, the member secretary of TRC is the Administrative Chief of NTB, Mr. Ramesh Kumar Adhikari. Members in the Committee are associations representing the private sector such as NATTA, TAAN, NMA, NATO, SOTTO & PATA Nepal Chapter as well as the various related government bodies such as archeological department, CAAN, Nepal Airlines, Immigration department, Nepal Tourism Board and more. The main objective of the committee is to propose strategies on rehabilitation and recovery of tourism in Nepal. Several Meetings have already been held to this effect and fund is being collected from various domestic and international tourism entrepreneurs, organizations, donors as well as other well wishers to contribute in the Tourism Recovery Fund.
Coinciding with Bangladesh International Tourism Fair-2015, 21-23rd May, a very special meeting was held in Dhaka in the presence of the participating country members to give a final shape to the concept of forming South Asian Tourism Federation. In order to develop tourism in South Asian Countries (SAARC) this committee named” South Asian Tourism Federation” was formed. Names of the committee will be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affair’s SAARC Secretariat and will comply with recommendations and this committee will work for the speedy development of tourism in the region. On last 22nd May this committee was declared in a meeting held at a Hotel in Dhaka. The meeting was arranged by Bangladesh International Hotel Association and was participated by the representatives from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The meeting was presided over by Mr. H.M. Hakim Ali, President, Bangladesh International Hotel Association. Members present in the meeting unanimously nominated Mr. Read More
The Inaugural Ceremony of 5th Bangladesh Tourism Fair (BITF) - 2015 was held at Bangabandhu International Conference (BICC), Dhaka on May 21st 2015,Thursday. Mr. Rahsed Khan Menon, MP, Honourable Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism graced the ceremony as Chief Guest. Mr. Ratan Bhowmik, Honorable Minister for Tourism Government of Tripura, India graced the ceremony as Guest of Honor. Mr. Khurshed Alam Chowdhury, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism was also remain present as special guest at the ceremony. Mr. H.M Hakim Ali, Chairman, Bangladesh Foundation for Tourism Development (BFTD) presided over the ceremony. All the dignitaries present were greeted by NATTA by offering Special Khada with the print of NATTA Logo. D.B Limbu, President of NATTA apprised the gathering of the recent Nepal Earthquake and thanked the people and the Govt. of Bangladesh for their meaningful cooperation and support and also emphasized on the need of the formation of Read More
On 20th May 2015, a meeting was held between NATTA & BARN at Hotel Annapurna. Representing NATTA, Secretary General, Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa, Treasurer, Mr. Narayan Gurung Koney & Executive Member, Mr. Binay Basnet were present in the meeting. The meeting discussed mainly on the strategies on how to revive the aviation sector together with tourism which has been badly hit by the disastrous earthquake of last month. At the moment, the airlines have reduced the number of flights to Kathmandu due to less number of passengers travelling. Among the proposed strategies were to request the government for concession on landing, parking & navigation fees at TIA as well as discount on the aircraft fuel prices for a certain period of time so that the airlines are also able to come up with special airfares for revival of tourism.
A meeting was held with the Director General of Immigration Department Mr. Kedar Neupane on Wednesday, the 20th of May 2015. As a part of tourism recovery plan, NATTA requested to grant free visa to tourists willing to travel to Nepal till the end of 2015. The gratis visa may send a positive message to the world on Nepal’s eagerness to revive the tourism industry after the earthquake.
With the support of NATTA Members and the individuals, NATTA has been able to collect the amount of Rs. 12, 32,995/- .We would like to thank all the contributors for their prompt support. Your generous contributions to NATTA Relief Fund may be deposited to Sunrise Bank under the account 'Nepal Assoc.Tour & T.A .' (Relief F)No.00210250772011, SWIFT Code: SRBLNPKA or it may be directly deposited at NATTA Accounts Department during the working days and hours. Or, your single phone call to NATTA to this effect would enable us to reach our helping hand to come to your office and collect your contribution.
NATTA wrote letters to all National and International airlines’ requesting to refund/amend all tickets without any charges for tickets that have been issued having travel date till 15th May 2015. Since IATA had already postponed the BSP payment date by a week and looking at the situation a further postponement of a week has been considered by IATA. Similarly NATTA has also requested the low cost carriers to give grace period of 15 days for the first payment date and another 10 days for the second payment date. NATTA has also requested all airlines to assist in transporting cargo of relief goods free that are being collected and ready to be picked up from various destinations around the world. NATTA is also coordinating with International Volunteer groups and will also work with concerned government authorities of Nepal to get the customs and duties waived.
NATTA has set up a Relief Fund to support the victims of recent Earthquake disaster. Request you to kindly contribute generously by sending cash/cheque to NATTA Secretariat or deposit the same in Sunrise Bank under the account 'Nepal Assoc.Tour & T.A .' (Relief F)No.00210250772011 SWIFT Code: SRBLNPKA Lets unite in this humanitarian cause.
NATTA in coordination with NTB is organizing World Travel Fair 2015, Shanghai, China to be held from 7th May till 10th May. Total of six Nepalese travel companies are participating as exhibitors in one of the leading Fair, WTF. Participants are : 1. Rosha Travels & Tours Pvt. Ltd. 2. My Nepal Adventure Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd. 3. Mountain Adventure Trekking Pvt. Ltd. 4. Orchid Nepal Holiday Tours Pvt. Ltd. 5. Worldways Tours & Travels Pvt. Ltd. 6. Intertours Nepal Coordinator for WTF, Shanghai is NATTA Executive Member Ms. Kamla Gurung.
The Country Manager of Air India Mr. R. Rajasekharan called on the NATTA Secretariat Thursday, the 16th April'15 and held discussions with President Mr. D.B. Limbu and Secy. General Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa primarily on the issues of ADM and showed his readiness to co- operate NATTA and its member agents to solve any problems that might impede their business interest.
A meeting of the NATTA-APJC members was held at NATTA Secretariat on 16th April to discuss about the possible agenda of the upcoming APJC Meeting likely to be held this month. The meeting was attended by NATTA-APJC Members, Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa, Mr. Sudhir Kumar Upadhyay, Mr. Laxman Tiwari and Mr. Kedar Dawadi. Also present in the meeting were the NATTA President Mr. DB Limbu, Advisor Mr. Shyam Raj Thapaliya, and NATTA Executive Members Mr. Chitra Bahadur Gurung and Mr. Binay Basnet.
A meeting in regard to deportee cases was held at NATTA Secretariat on 25th March 2015. The meeting was President Mr.D.B. Limbu participated in a meeting called by Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation, Singhadurbar held on Wednesday, 15th April to finalize a proposed Tourism Industry Reporting Form designed and prepared by the Statistics Department under the Ministry. President Limbu provided a few concrete suggestions intended to modify the information sought in the meeting. Companies in the tourism industry will soon be sent the Forms to be filled in. All contents of the form will be confidential and will be used only for the purpose of maintaining the statistical records.
The 100th week of the Bagmati River Cleanliness Campaign was marked on Saturday morning, 11th April 2015, with participation of thousands of people. The sector allocated to travel trade was Gaurighat - JumboDanda section of Bagmati River. Participants formed a human chain of 28 kilometers along the riverbanks. The greater campaign kicked off with the singing of the national anthem and oath taking to keep the river clean. NATTA President and JTCC Coordinator Mr. D. B Limbu along with the members of Executive Committee and General Members had actively participated in it. Various personnels from Government and non governmental body had joined the Campaign. This great campaign is also believed to have raised the awareness on cleanliness of the rivers. Keep our City Clean!
NATTA welcomes six travel companies as NATTA Members. President D.B Limbu handed over the certificates with related documents. Executive Board Members also expressed their best wishes and welcomed the new members at the 54th and 55th Board meetings. The new Members are: · Hamro Holidays Pvt. Ltd. · Yeti Express Pvt. Ltd. · Travel Corporation Nepal Pvt. Ltd. · Gaama Travel & Tour Pvt. Ltd. · Dolcevita Travels Pvt. Ltd. · Appointment Travels & Tours Pvt. Ltd.
NATTA Executive Board had a meeting with newly appointed Ambassador to USA Dr. Arjun Karki on 5th April 2015 at NATTA Secretariat. President D. B Limbu welcomed His Excellency with Khada and lapel pin. During the meeting, various ideas were exchanged on how to make most out of the existing potential that Nepal has in tourism and on the promotion of Nepal in cross Atlantic Region. H.E Dr. Karki assured to support the travel trade sector and requested to come up with the proposals that can be worked out in promoting tourism of Nepal.
A joint-meeting of the NATTA Aviation Sub-Committee and a few major ticketing agents dealing with ticketing of the labor traffic to GCC & Malaysia was held Thursday, 2nd April '15 at NATTA Secretariat to reflect on the possibilities of finding a win-win solution to the longstanding problem of inadmissible air passengers which has been unnecessarily causing a heavy financial taxation on the part of agents issuing the tickets. Secretary General Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa told the meeting that NATTA called on the Director of the Immigration Dept and with his support NATTA was also able to collect relevant data in regard to the accurate number of entry refused cases from the Gulf countries and Malaysia during the last eight months. It showed that an average of 92 Nepalese passengers was sent back by the immigration of the disembarked destinations as inadmissible passengers. Having said that she also explained that NATTA had undertaken this fact- finding survey at Read More
