Nepali runners dominate Everest Marathon

Nepali runners dominate Everest Marathon Suman Kulung and Nirkala Rai have won the men’s and women’s category of Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon held in the Everest Region on Monday. Kulung, who ferries loads of trekkers between Lukla and Everest Base Camp, completed the 42.195 kilometers race in 3:43:57 hours. The 26-year-old Kulung had secured third position in last year’s marathon. Similarly, Nepal Army athletes Surendra Basnet and Bed Bahadur Sunuwar secured second and third positions, respectively, with the timing of 3:52:8 hours and 4:5:40 hours. The highest marathon in the world begins from the Everest Base Camp (5,300 meters) and concludes at Namche Bazaar (3,450 meters).
Everest Marathon 2017

Everest Marathon 2017

The event is organized every year on May 29 to commemorate the first ascent of Mt Everest by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary back in 1953. Similarly, Nirkala clinched the women’s title with the timing of 4:51:33 hours. Purnima Rai and Dawa Doma Sherpa finished in the second and third positions, respectively, completing the marathon in 5:07:26 hours and 5:37:43 hours. All the three ladies are from Solukhumbu district. The top three finishers in both categories became richer by Rs 100,000, Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000, respectively.
Everest Marathon 2017

Everest Marathon 2017

Pitor Hercog of Poland won the foreigner’s category with the timing of 4:38:22 hours. Robert Celinski, also from Poland, clocked 4:48:48 hours to secure second position, while French runner Fabrice Arman stood third with the timing of 5:28:30 hours. Meanwhile, Nepal Army athletes clean swept the 60 km ultra-marathon. Tirtha Bahadur Tamang secured first position clocking 6:38:56 hours, while Mohan Dev Joshi (7:18:16 hours) and Purna Tamang (7:30:00 hours) secured second and third positions, respectively. The top three finishers in the ultra and foreigner’s categories were given equal amount of Rs 100,000 Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000. The event was organized by Himalayan Expeditions. Source: Travelpress Landmark Forest Landmark Pokhara Creative Adventure Nepal Landmark Kathmandu Contact Us: E-mail: sales@samratnepal.com Phone: +977 – 9851030564 Location: Gairidhara, Kathmandu, Nepal. Website: www.samratnepal.com

Himalayan Travel Mart 2017 kicks off in Kathmandu

Himalayan Travel Mart 2017 kicks off in Kathmandu The International Travel Bloggers and Media Conference kicked off here in the capital on Thursday. This is the first time that the conference has been organised in the country to promote the message in the global tourism market that Nepal is the gateway to the Himalayas. The theme of the conference is – Nepal Gateway to the Himalaya. Taking part in the meet are 107 travel bloggers from 33 countries, 70 travel and tourism-related experts and more than 100 journalists from various countries.
Himalayan Travel Mart 2017

Himalayan Travel Mart 2017

In the biggest tourism event ever, held at Budhanilkantha in the capital, the participants shared knowledge and experience regarding the tourism products of their respective countries, the use of digital media and the new practices in the field. Experts from various countries shared information on the tourism market, tourism products and ways of promoting both. Some 500 people from home and abroad participated in the conference organized by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Nepal Chapter as the executive organizer, the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation as the host and Nepal Tourism Board as the main organizer.
Himalayan Travel Mart 2017

Himalayan Travel Mart 2017

Minister for Health Gagan Kumar Thapa, inaugurating the conference, said that the conference, organised with a new vision of tourism and a long-term goal, would play a key role in promoting Nepal’s tourism in the world market. He opined that Nepal’s tourism would be much benefited from the promotional programme through this international level conference in the context of the Nepali tourism market with high potentials in terms of natural, geographical and cultural aspects not been reaping the expected benefits. He also stressed the need of the government and the private sector to work together for further promoting the country’s tourism.
Himalayan Travel Mart 2017

Himalayan Travel Mart 2017

Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board, Deepak Raj Joshi, highlighting the potentialities of Nepal’s tourism market, reiterated that the conference would be useful in giving a new message to the global tourism market. PATA CEO Mario Hardy described the conference as the appropriate forum for promoting new tourism product in the global tourism by exploring the avenues for nature and culture tourism of Nepal, a country of the Himalayas. PATA Nepal Chapter president Suman Pandey said that the conference has been organized with the objective of promoting Nepal’s tourism throughout the world through digital media. Health Minister Thapa also launched the special issue of Himalaya Travel Magazine on the occasion. Source: Tourismmail Landmark Forest Landmark Pokhara Creative Adventure Nepal Landmark Kathmandu Contact Us: E-mail: sales@samratnepal.com Phone: +977 – 9851030564 Location: Gairidhara, Kathmandu, Nepal. Website: www.samratnepal.com

Mata Tirtha Aunsi (Mother’s Day)

Mata Tirtha Aunsi (Mother’s Day)
Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day

Nepalis both home and abroad are observing the Mata Tirtha Aunsi or the Mother’s Day today by showing respect and reverence to their mothers by offering gifts and various delicacies. The day falls on the New Moon Day in the Nepali Month of Baisakh according to the lunar calendar. Living mothers are offered gifts consisting of delicacies while ritual offerings are made in the name of the deceased.
The festival of "Mata Tritha Puja"

The festival of “Mata Tritha Puja”

Offsprings in return receive the blessings from their mothers who are highly placed by the holy scriptures. According to Nepal Calendar Determination Committee, the Hindu holy scriptures narrate that the mothers are 10 times revered than fathers and extol mothers and place them higher above father, ancestors and mentors. Every year this day, a big religious fair takes place at Matatirtha, a place to the western part of Kathmandu. Although a Hindu tradition, Buddhists also flock here to perform ‘Shradda’ for their departed mothers.
The festival of "Mata Tritha Puja"

The festival of “Mata Tritha Puja”

Mothers apart, mother-in-law, female mentor and aunties are also presented gifts on this occasion. Source: Nepaliheadlines Landmark Forest Landmark Pokhara Creative Adventure Nepal Landmark Kathmandu Contact Us: E-mail: sales@samratnepal.com Phone: +977 – 9851030564 Location: Gairidhara, Kathmandu, Nepal. Website: www.samratnepal.com

Nepalese tourism stakeholders want competitive air fare between Nepal and China

Nepalese tourism stakeholders want competitive air fare between Nepal and China

Nepal Airlines

Nepal Airlines

Nepalese tourism stakeholders on Wednesday stressed on making air travel between Nepal and China cheaper to promote bilateral tourism, arguing that air transport between the two neighbors is one of the most expensive in the world.

They said at an interaction on the theme of Silk Road Tourism between Nepal and China, organized by China National Tourist Office and Nepal China Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCCI) that potential growth of Chinese tourists to Nepal has been hindered by higher air fare and relatively low air connectivity.

China is the Nepal’s second largest source market for tourists after India since 2010. Nepal welcomed 104,005 Chinese tourists in 2016 as arrivals surged by 55.26 percent on year-on-year basis after disastrous 2015 due to deadly earthquake and subsequent blockade in southern border points of Nepal, according to the data of Department of Immigration of Nepal.

NCCCI President Rajesh Kaji Shrestha said that air ticket for Kathmandu-Guangzhou is more expensive than travelling through the Kathmandu-Bangkok-Guangzhou. “Travelling Kathmandu to Kunming is costlier than India’s Kolkata’s to Kunming. Price must be competitive to attract more Chinese tourists to Nepal,” he said.

Currently, four Chinese airlines — China Southern, China Eastern, Sichuan Airline and Air China are serving Kathmandu to Guangzhou, Kunming, Chengdu and Lhasa respectively.

China Air

China Air

Shrestha said that there should be direct air connectivity between Kathmandu and Beijing, Shanghai to attract more Chinese tourists. Nepal’s national flag carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation is also serving Kathmandu-Hong Kong route currently and also has plan to reach Chinese mainland.

Sunil Sharma, officiating director of Nepal Tourism Board, the main tourism promotion body of Nepal, said that the board has been consistently promoting Nepal’s tourism in China but travel cost has been hindering the potential of Chinese tourist arrivals to Nepal.

Nepalese stakeholders also asked China to ease travel for tourist through land route too, particularly through bordering Geelong port which is currently only international trade route between the two countries.

Chinese ambassador to Nepal Yu Hong said that China was promoting Nepal’s tourism under the Year of Tourism for Nepal 2017 in line with the joint statement signed in 2016.

Source: Travel News Nepal

Landmark Forest

Landmark Pokhara

Creative Adventure Nepal

Landmark Kathmandu

Contact Us:

E-mail: sales@samratnepal.com

Phone: +977 – 9851030564

Location: Gairidhara, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Website: www.samratnepal.com

Religious tourists throng Muktinath Temple

Religious tourists throng Muktinath Temple

Muktinath Temple

Muktinath Temple

The famous holy shrine in Mustang district, Muktinath Temple, has been seeing an overwhelming number of tourists in the recent days. According to Krishna Prasad Subedi, the Chief Priest of the Temple, religious tourists have been thronging the Muktinath Temple in some 100 number in a day after, Chaite Dashain and Ram Nawami.

Muktinath Darshan

The 108 waterspouts at Muktinath Temple

With the influx of tourists, the hoteliers in Kagbeni, Jomsom, and Marpha among others are also elated for getting good business.The onset of tourist season has also added to the increment in the number of tourists here, shared Subedi, adding that the place is believed to attract more tourists in coming months.

It is believed that one who makes offerings at Kagbeni in memory of the deceased ones and visits Muktinath Temple will get his/her wishes fulfilled.Since the temple hold religious significance for both Hindus and Buddhists, the place also receives
as many as religious tourists from India and China. It takes an hour of drive from Kagbeni to reach Muktinath Temple.

Source: RSS

Nepal in Lonely Planet’s ‘Best to Travel in 2017’ list

Mount Everest - Top of the World

Mount Everest – Top of the World

Popular travel guidebook Lonely Planet has included Nepal in its ‘Best to Travel in 2017’ list.

Nepal has been placed in the fifth position in the list of top ten countries to travel in 2017.

Even natural disasters can’t keep Nepal down for long. The 2015 earthquakes caused devastation, but what is most striking from a traveler’s perspective is not how much was lost but how much remains. Landmark temples crumbled, but others came through with just the odd tile out of place, and whole swathes of the country escaped serious damage, including most of the popular trekking trails, said Lonely Planet.

Yak Long-haired Himalayan Bovine

Yak Long-haired Himalayan Bovine

Nepal has all the skills required to repair monuments and infrastructure, but what it does need is income. By visiting Nepal now and supporting local culture and people, you could help a nation rebuild and bounce back even stronger, it added.

Canada, Colombia, Finland and Dominica are ahead of Nepal in the list. Similarly, Bermuda, Mongolia, Oman, Myanmar and Ethiopia trail Nepal in the annual list.

Similarly, Nepal has also topped the list of ‘Best Value Destinations’. According to the list, Nepal is at the top of the list of 10 places which the travel guidebook says offer best value for the ‘travel bargains for the budget-conscious’.

Pashupatinath Temple

Pashupatinath Temple

Noting that Nepal is bouncing back from earthquakes and fuel strike that made getting round the country tough, Lonely Planet writes ‘Nepal remains a fabulous choice for budget-conscious travelers, who can access the best of its world-famous trekking routes and underrated wildlife for well south of US$ 50 a day ‘.

“Visitor numbers are slowly recovering and the time is ripe to get back to Nepal’s mighty mountains; wherever you go, you’ll receive a warm welcome, as your visit brings much-needed income to communities getting back on their feet, added the publication.

Kathmandu Valley

Kathmandu Valley

According to Lonely Planet, its staffers come up with hundreds of places that are ‘buzzing right now, offer new things for travelers to see or do, or are criminally overlooked and underrated.’ “Amid fierce debate, the list is whittled down by our panel of travel experts to just 10 countries, 10 regions and 10 cities that travelers must visit in the year ahead,” said the Lonely Planet about the process of picking up recommendations. “Each destination is chosen for its topicality, unique experiences and ‘wow’ factor. We don’t just report on the trends, we set them – helping you get there before the crowds do,” it added.

Source: Myrepublica

Landmark Forest

Landmark Pokhara

Creative Adventure Nepal

Landmark Kathmandu

Contact Us:

E-mail: sales@samratnepal.com

Phone: +977 – 9851030564

Location: Gairidhara, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Website: www.samratnepal.com

GPO Box: 20961, Gairidhara, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Tel: +977-1-4004700 / 4004701 / 4004702 / 4004703,
Fax: +977-1-4700226
Cell: +977-9851030564 / 9851032867
Email: sales@samratgroup.org, pandeycn@gmail.com
Web: www.samratgroup.org, www.samratgroup.org