A delegation of NATTA comprising of Secretary Mr. Ramesh Thapa, President NATTA Eastern Regional Association Mr. Hem Raj Bastola (Tara ), NATTA Executive Members Mr. Binay Basnet, Mr. Chitra Bahadur Gurung visited the Secretariat of Airlines Owner's Association Nepal (AOAN) on 21st August last and discussed various issues pertaining to problems faced by agents. Some of the major issues discussed were granting ticket stock only to government registered ticketing agents, sale of air-tickets only through travel agents, no discrimination in commission, the provision of full refund in case of cancellation, at least six months prior information to agents regarding any hike in the ticket rates etc. AOAN has signaled affirmatively on the agendas discussed and has agreed to have joint meetings on regular basis.AOAN officials present in the meeting were General Secretary Mr. Suman Pandey, Executive Director Mr. K.K. Barma and Treasurer Mr. Rupesh Joshi.
Mr. Tomohiro Koyama, Researcher/Advisor at the Embassy of Japan in Nepal called on NATTA Secretariat on Wednesday, the 20th August last and held discussions with President Mr. D.B. Limbu regarding the current tourism scenario of Nepal including the products preferred by the visitors. He said that he was going to produce an article on Nepal's Tourism to be published in Japanese language. Also present in the meeting were NATTA Secretary Mr. Ramesh Thapa and CEO Prof. Hari Sarmah.
At the behest of NATTA Executive Committee, Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) called a joint meeting of the office bearing executives of both the associations on Tuesday, the 19th August, 2014. HAN Executives were led by President Mr. B.K. Shrestha and NATTA Executives were led by President Mr. D.B. Limbu. The agenda discussed were (a) provision of special room rates for the local tour operators (b) joint promotional campaigns (c) Consolidating NTB and (d) regular joint meetings with NATTA and HAN Executives. NATTA was represented by Secretary Mr. Ramesh Thapa, NATTA Hotel Coordinator Mr. Sudhir Kumar Upadhyaya, Executive Member Mr. Chitra Bahadur Gurung and CEO Prof. Hari Sarmah.
NATTA organized an Interactive Discussion Program on various IATA Issues including the proposed Remittance Cycle on last Friday, the 08th August, 2014 in the auditorium Hall of Russian Centre of Science and Culture, Kamalpokhari from 2-4 p.m. Almost all the IATA Accredited members of NATTA attended the discussion program. President Mr. D.B. Limbu welcoming the audience informed that the purpose of this program is to give an opportunity to our members to interact directly with IATA and to put forth any problems or issues which requires attention. The President also informed that the program will discuss about the remittance cycle but at the same time emphasized that this program is not to make any decision on the same. Mr. Amitabh Khosla, Country Director of IATA andMr. Vinod Malholtra, Branch Manager IATA N. India were invited on the dias. Mr.Amitabh Khosla made an hour-long deliberation on IATA's current operational system Read More
With a view to extend generous support to the victims of the natural disaster caused by most devastating flood and landslide that occurred last week in Jure of Sindhupalchok, the executive board of NATTA and the staff of the Secretariat have set up a Relief Fund in Sunrise Bank under the title Nepal Assoc. Tour & T.A (Relief F) bearing the account number 00210250772011. The seed money collected has already been deposited and NATTA members have been sent a circular to contribute to the fund either by sending the cash/cheque directly to NATTA Secretariat or by depositing the same in the above account.
Ms. Natasha Martin, a tourism consultant from Washington DC and Ms. Neha Shrestha, a tourism marketing analyst at Samartha called on the Secretariat of NATTA And held discussions with President Mr. D.B. Limbu, 1st VP Mr. Shambhu Raj Pathak, Secy. Gen. Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa, Executive Member Mr. C.B. Gurung and CEO Prof. Hari Sarmah on issues of upholding the product like GHT (Great Himalaya Trail) since SNV (Netherlands) has now shifted the responsibility of marketing and promoting the GHT to Samarth. NATTA, once an active member of the GHT Steering Committee suggested the visitors that the association is always committed in promoting such unique products in the international market. v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} b\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} The NATTA team recently met with Natasha Martin, a tourism consultant engaged by Samarth-NMDP, who is reviewing the Great Himalayan Trail website and brand. She has asked us to circulate this brief Read More
NATTA delegation led by the President, Mr. D. B. Limbu met with the Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank, Dr. Yubraj Khatiwada at his office on Monday, 4th August 2014. The meeting was held mainly to discuss regarding the payment of monthly BSP Link fees & annual fee of IATA to be paid in Nepalese currency locally by our members. Also discussed was the possibility of removing the dual currency system that has been existing in air ticketing. The Secretary General, Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa, explained the difficulty faced by our member agents to transact in dual currency (USD and NPR) for air ticketing and she also put forth the logic that the USD transaction is a minimal amount compared to the NPR transaction on airfares that is paid to IATA and therefore, such a nominal amount should not stand as a hurdle for ticketing agents. The Governor has taken this Read More
In keeping with Article 15(1) of Paragraph 5 of NATTA Statute, President Mr. D.B. Limbu proposed the NATTA Board to nominate Mr. Yadu Lamichhane, Managing Director of Asiatic Travels Pvt. Ltd. as a new member in the NATTA Executive Committee. This proposal has been unanimously approved by the Board.
President Mr. D.B Limbu handed over the NQ Tax Proposal of NATTA to Hon’ble Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Mr. Bhim Acharya on 31st July’14 at his office in MOCTCA late in the afternoon and gave a comprehensive elaboration of the reasons why NATTA should be provided with 5% of the total collection of NQ Tax. Also discussed on the occasion were the agenda of creating provision of issuing TIA Special Entry passes to NATTA Executives besides the amicable solution to be expedited by MOCTCA regarding the Tourist Bus Park in Pokhara. The other members in the delegation were Treasurer Mr. Narayan Koney, CEO Prof,Hari Sarmah and Mr.Pom Narayan Shrestha, President of NATTA Western Regional Association, Pokhara and the Secretary General Mr. Sanjay Kanta Sigdel
In effort to work towards the completion of our pending works, NATTA delegation visited Mr. Bhisma Dhungel, Director of Foreign Currency Exchange Department of Nepal Rastra Bank to get an update on the new monetary policy. Another milestone added to the hard work of NATTA, is the clause 114 of the new Monetary Policy of NRB which allows the outbound tour operators to remit payment to overseas agents based on the invoice received. Below is the extract of the same: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE !!$= g]kfnL 6«fen÷6';{ sDkgLx?n] g]kfnL gful/snfO{ ljb]z ed0fsf nflu sDkgL cfk}mn] jf ljb]zL PhG;L;Fu ;xsfo{ u/L ljleGg 6"/ Kofs]h ;DaGwL ;]jf laqmL u/]df ljhs (Invoice) adf]lhd lglZrt /sd;Dd 6«fen sDkgLnfO{ ;6xL ;'ljwf lbg] Joj:yf ldnfOg] 5 .
Mr. Shaun Mann, Senior Tourism Specialist along with his country companions Mr. Taneem Ahad and Mr. Sumit Baral called on NATTA Secretariat on 21st July and has discussions with President, Secretary General, Treasurer and CEO. The discussion was held mainly on the problems faced by the association in expanding its activities in other touristic centres like Pokhara, Chitwan and Lumbini. Mr. Shaun Mann expressed about his positive findings in tourism potentials and assured NATTA that he would look into the possibilities of assisting NATTA in whatever way possible in the days to come. NATTA also handed over a copy of the proposal to World Bank representative designed recently by the association for NQ Tax.
A NATTA Delegation led by President Mr. D.B Limbu met Commercial Director of Nepal Airlines Mr. Ram Hari Sharma to apprise him of the problems faced by agents in regard to dealings with Nepal Airlines. The agendas discussed were Deportee, Commisssion, Full Automation System in Booking, Reissue & Revalidate Authority, RA Capping, Domestic Services, Fare Filing. NATTA has also submitted a letter urging the NA commercial director to address the problems cited above at his earliest possible.
Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} A four-member NATTA delegation comprising of Mr. Ramesh Thapa (Secretary), Mr. Yubaraj Subedi (Coordinator NATTA Domestic Aviation Sub-Committee), Mr. Binay Basnet (Executive Member) and Mr. Hem Raj Bastola (President, NATTA Eastern Regional Association) called on the office of Mr. Umesh Rai, CEO of Yeti Airlines on Thursday, the 17th June and apprised him of the problems faced by domestic ticketing agents. After having heard the complaints put up by the delegates, Mr. Umesh Rai responded very positively and said that he would leave no stone unturned to ease the situation and do all his best to facilitate the agents. He, however, also suggested the NATTA delegation to have a similar meeting Read More
NATTA organized an interactive discussion program on "Restructuring Nepal Tourism Board" at Naxal Banquet on 16th July, 2014 in the afternoon. The program was attended by NATTA Senior Members including Past President Mrs. Ambica Shrestha, Mr. Ram Kaji Koney, NATTA Advisor Mr. B.K. Shrestha, Dr. Ramesh Kunwar and Mr. Shyam Raj Thapaliya, Past CEO of NTB & NATTA Hony. Life Member Mr. Prachanda Man Shrestha, Tourism Veterans Mr. Yogendra Shakya and Mr. Prakash Shrestha. Also present on the occasion were the members of NTB Restructuring Committee formed by GON to recommend Suggestions to the Govt.
The executive board of NATTA has been right from the early days of its assumption of office in the Secretariat initiating to assuage the problem of deportee that has lately become so frequent. NATTA delegates met the DG Department of Immigration, Ambassador of Qatar to Nepal and on last July 3rd it met Jt. Secretary Mr. Laxmi Dhakal of Ministry of Home Affairs. After the meeting NATTA has sent a formal letter of request to MOHA requesting the Ministry to look for the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in evolving an effective joint coordination with the Foreign Ministries of Qatar and other labour market to find an amicable solution.
NATTA Executive Committee had been involved in creating pressure to the concerned authorities of the government right from the early days of the introduction of transport syndicate in Ghasa and surrounding areas on Beni –Jomsom route since the syndicate had forcefully evolved numerous hassles for the pilgrims and other tourists en route to Jomsom and on their way back. NATTA delegates had called on the Minister for Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation Hon'ble Bhim Acharya, Tourism Secretary Mr. Sushil Ghimire and Chief of Tourism Industry Division Mr. Madhusudan Burlakoti and lately Inspector General of Police Mr. Upendra Aryal with letters of complaints and NATTA grievance to ban local transport syndicate prevailing in the above route on different dates showing the cause that the route is mostly frequented by tourists and the ill and unwholesome treatment towards them ought to be stopped immediately. Now since the syndicate system has been Read More
In our continuous effort to find a solution to the problem faced by our members in regard to the frequent cases of Deportees, a NATTA delegation visited Home Ministry for a joint meeting with Mr. Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, Joint Secretary, Home Ministry and Mr. Sharad Chandra Poudel, DG, Immigration Department. NATTA delegation was led by Secretary General, Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa, along with Treasurer, Mr. Narayan Gurung Koney, Executive Members Mr. Binay Basnet, Mr. Chitra Bahadur Gurung and CEO, Prof. Hari Sarmah. NATTA briefed on the financial burden faced by the members due to deportee cases and emphasized on the need to find short-term & long-term solutions. NATTA has already in the past sent a request to the DG, Immigration department, to inform NATTA when a deportee arrives in Kathmandu so that NATTA is able to inform its member on time. However, this has not been very effective and thus NATTA Read More
NATTA has been working on how to make the BSP payment method faster and easier for the IATA accredited members. In the same context, NATTA delegation met with Mr. Neelesh Man Singh Pradhan, CEO of Nepal Clearing House Ltd on June 24.. The outcome of the meeting was very fruitful and informative. Nepal Clearing House Ltd (NCHL) has been established with an objective of automating the process of cheque clearing which was earlier being done manually through NRB. With the introduction of NCHL-ECC (electronic cheque clearing) system, the cheque clearing cycle has become much faster. All cheques are cleared and settled on the same day by 3:30 p.m. provided they are presented before the cut off time of 11 a.m. Cheque presented after the cut off time are cleared and settled only the following day. Moreover, in order to provide faster cheque clearance, there is an additional facility of Read More
NATTA, after having compiled the suggestions from its general members, has sent a list of concrete suggestions to Civil Aviation Authority Nepal (CAAN) in regard to proper utilization of Airport Development Fee (B6 Tax) of Rs. 1000 per passenger flying on international flights effective from 17th July instant. NATTA suggestions to CAAN include the demand to maintain the accounts of the tax collected in a transparent way and get the accounts audited annually and make the same public through media. NATTA has also suggested utilizing the fund collected in sustainable construction of TIA runway and operating TIA round the clock. As NATTA agents would be responsible for collecting the tax, there ought to be representation of NATTA in Airport Infrastructure Development Committee and other committees pertaining to overall development of all airports in the country. NATTA has further suggested that the Fee collected as B6 Tax should be invested Read More
In order to solve IATA related problems faced by IATA accredited NATTA members, NATTA facilitated a joint meeting with IATA officials from India and the Foreign Exchange Management Department of Nepal Rastra Bank on 19th June 2014. Present in the meeting were Mr. Bhisma Dhungana NRB Director of the department, Mr. Amitabh Khosla, Country Director – Nepal & India and Mr. Vinod Malhotra, Branch Manager – Northern India & Nepal from IATA, Mr. D. B. Limbu, NATTA President, Ms. Mihika Dhakhwa, Secretary General & Prof. Hari Sarmah, CEO of NATTA. As an outcome of the meeting, the IATA accredited NATTA members will be able to pay the monthly BSP Link fees & annual IATA accreditation fees in Nepalese currency to IATA in Nepal after IATA submits the required documents to Nepal Rastra Bank.
