KATHMANDU: Joint secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) Laxman Bhattarai and standing committee executive vice chairman of government of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), China Wu Ying Jie signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday in Lhasa, Tibet to promote Nepal Tourism Year 2011 and develop tourism sector.
During the fourth meeting of China’s Tibet -Nepal Joint Tourism Coordination Committee that concluded successfully yesterday, the Tibetan representative also agreed — though in principal — on various promotional issues Nepali side proposed.
The MoU includes operation of bus service, promoting Nepal Tourism Year in Tibet through media (TV and radio) and hoarding boards at major crossroads, allowing regular helicopter and charter services to Mansoravor area, providing Tibet visa to international tourists from Nepal, operating more Chinese airlines on Lhasa-Kathmandu route are some of the areas where both governments are planning to work closely through respective diplomatic channels to execute all these issues expediently.
The two-day meeting held on Monday and Tuesday is a regular meeting that rotates on turn basis. Last year the meeting was held in Kathmandu.
Nepali delegation also extended their Tibetan counterpart the invitation of the next round of meeting to be held next November in Kathamndu.
they also discussed the gamut of issues like hinderance of flow of tourists to and from Kathmandu to Lhasa. Representatives from Tibet assured Nepali representatives that they would do their best to help achieve the target of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 on their part. Nepal Tourism Year 2011 aims to bring one million tourists in 2011.
Meanwhile, a robust growth in arrivals from the South Asian region and China pushed the total tourist arrivals up into the country in August. “A growth of 20 per cent has been observed in the arrivals from the South Asian region during the first eight months of 2010 compared to the same period last year," reveals Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) immigration department data. "There has been substantial growth of 68.3 per cent in visitor arrivals from China.”
The arrivals from South Asian region have gained overall positive growth of 34.9 per cent with Bangladesh at 51.6 per cent) India at 35.1 per cent, and Sri Lanka with a growth of 57 per cent, registering positive growth. Visitor arrivals from Pakistan have declined by 20.2 per cent.
The visitor arrivals from Asia (other than South Asian region) have maintained the upward trend. The region has recorded a double digit growth.
