Nepal and India agreed to jointly promote the Buddhist Circuit (Sarnath-Bodhgaya-Kushinagar-Lumbini–Swayambhunath-Kankrebihar) and two other religious circuits namely, Pashupatinath–Muktinath–Gosaikunda-Varanasi-Kamakhya-Bhubaneshwar and Janakpur-Ayodhya during the first meeting of the joint working group (on tourism) held in New Delhi today.
Both the parties agreed to sell joint packages for the Buddhist circuit in the international market by setting up joint travel marts in the international market.
The 12-member team, including the private sector, led by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) Joint Secretary Umakanta Parajuli held a meeting with the team led by his Indian counterpart today.Both parties have signed a memorandum of understanding regarding joint promotion and exchange of tourism related information, according to Shreejana Rana, senior vice president of Hotel Association Nepal.
Talking to The Himalayan Times from New Delhi, Rana said that both the countries will enhance cooperation for better promotion of tourism in each other’s country. Both the parties discussed about developing common infrastructure for tourism too.
Along with Parajuli and Rana, Director General of Department of Tourism Tulasi Prasad Gautam; Member Secretary of Lumbini Development Trust Ajit Man Tamang; Ramesh Dhamala, president of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal; DB Limbu, president of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents, Ashok Pokhrel, chairman of Nepal Association of Tour Operators, Nandini Lahe Thapa and Ghanendra Bahadur Shrestha of Nepal Tourism Board participated in the meeting.
The meeting of the joint working group will take place every two years. Both the countries had signed a MoU to enhance cooperation on tourism on the sidelines of the 18th SAARC summit held in Kathmandu and a joint working group was formed to implement the MoU. It will be automatically extended for further periods of five years at a time, unless either of the parties wants to terminate it.
