NTY to be launched at 8 border points

SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, NOV 12 -
After the launch of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 in Kathmandu and other major cities across the country, the Tourism Ministry and the NTY 2011 implementation committee plans to take the campaign to all the major border towns.

NTY 2011 will be inaugurated in Kakkarbhitta, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj, Mahendranagar, Dhangadhi and Janakpur simultaneously on Nov. 16.

The programme will start with a cleaning campaign with the participation of government agencies, businesspersons and local residents.

“The objective of the campaign is to inform people about the need to keep the cities and border points clean besides providing warm hospitality to visitors who come overland,” said Tourism Ministry spokesperson Laxman Prasad Bhattarai.

A recent survey done by the Nepal Tourism Board showed that 429,455 tourists entered Nepal overland in 2009. Among them, Indian visitors numbered 298,821. NTY 2011 has targeted bringing one million tourists including 300,000 overland tourists. “The move is an effort to decentralize the NTY 2011 campaign and gather support at the regional level to make the campaign a huge success,” said NTB spokesperson Aditya Baral.

Baral added that the programme aimed to sensitize local people at the tourist entry points about the national campaign and revamp the existing facilities. “Improving immigration procedures, simplifying frontier formalities and building rest areas for tourists have been planned to make things as convenient as possible for visitors,” he said.

According to the NTB survey, Belhiya (Bhairahawa) was found to be the most important border point in terms of Indian tourist arrivals with almost 33 percent of them entering Nepal through here. Other major entry points are Vittamod (Janakpur) with 19 percent, Birgunj with 17 percent and Kakkarbhitta with 14 percent.

On Feb. 26, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal launched NTY 2011 in Kathmandu. The event then moved to Pokhara on April 12 and to Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar on April 13, April 21 and April 23 respectively.