Cultural heritage sites to open for tourists from June 15

Cultural heritage sites to open for tourists from June 15

The government is opening some cultural heritages sites in Kathmandu Valley for tourists from June 15. The government had barred entry of tourists in these sites following the earthquake of April 25.

(Photo: The Guardian)

(Photo: The Guardian)

The meeting of Tourism Recovery Committee (TRC) held on Monday took the decision. The meeting, which was chaired by tourism secretary Suresh Man Shrestha, saw participation of high ranking officials from the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA), Department of Tourism, Department of Archaeology (DoA), archeological experts, presidents of different tourism organizations, executive committee members and administrative chief of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), among others.

Bhesh Narayan Dahal, director general of DoA, said they would formally open Kathmandu Durbar Square, Swoyambhunath and Patan Durbar Square for visitors from June 15. Other heritage sites like Bouddhanath, Budhanilkantha and Pashupatinath are safe for tourists, he added.

Speaking at the meeting, Tourism Secretary Shrestha said there is a need to organize effective international media marketing campaign and organize fam trips for celebrities, tour operators and travel writers to Nepal to disseminate positive message about Nepal. “This will help us tell the rest of the world what we still have to offer after the earthquake of April 25,” said Shrestha.

In the meeting, Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) expressed commitment to provide complimentary accommodation to participants of fam trips, while Nepal Association of Tour Operators (NATO) has said it would arrange vehicles and tour guides for the participants.

Source: TAAN

Yak blood drinking festival begins in Mustang

A cultural festival of the Thakali people in which people drink the fresh blood of yaks has commenced at Boksikhola, Kobang in Mustang district.

Yak – Long-haired Himalayan Bovine

As part of the festival, a part of the yak’s neck is pierced for the blood to gush out and tumbler placed under to collect the fresh blood which is then drunk. People drink the fresh blood in the belief that drinking fresh blood of yak treats gastritis, acidity, jaundice, muscle sprain, body swelling and other bowel related diseases as the yaks feed on valuable herbs like yarshagumbu, jatamasi, panchaaunle, among others growing in the highland pasture.

The festival is organized by the Joint Yak Keepers Group with the objective of selling the fresh yak blood and meat.

People from Upper Mustang, Myagdi, Baglung, Parbat and Kaski districts have thronged Boksi Khola to drink the fresh yak blood from the first day itself, said Deepa Gauchan, a local yak farmer. The festival will continue till April 30.

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Source: Republica

Kathmandu, Pokhara, Muktinath and Chitwan – Client’s Review

pokhara1Dear Mr. R R Tiwari ji,

We thank you very much for the service and hospitality provided to us by you and your team during our tour of NEPAL from 16~27th of March, 2015.  We really enjoyed the entire trip everywhere in KTM, POKHARA, MUKTINATH and CHITWAN.

Especially the driver Mr. Shyam and Hotel Manager at Pokhara Mr.Krishna Pandey has taken extra care.  However, I would like to draw your kind attention towards some points to be take care in future to improve your Planning and service.

(1) At Muktinath temple we can spend enough time if one more night hold can be arranged at Muktinath.

(2) At JANAKPUR temples are remains closed during 12 to 4 pm, hence timing should be set accordingly. As we can’t get DARSHAN of any temple inside.

 (3) At chitwan we were not informed about Jungle Safari by Zeep as we had enough time on the day of arrival and payment was also to be made by us separately.

 (4) At JOMSOM hotel Majesty is a good property but service needs improvement. May be at extra cost. In such a cold area no hot water or fire vessel provided.

 But in general our trip was extra fine. Luckily we enjoyed heavy snow at Muktinath and at Annapurna base camp which was arranged by us separately by helicopter.

 Thank you very much once again,

Regards,

Ganeshbhai Thumar
+91 98242 14881

Nepal -India commit tourism promotion

Nepal -India commit tourism promotion

Nepal and India agreed to jointly promote the Buddhist Circuit (Sarnath-Bodhgaya-Kushinagar-LumbiniSwayambhunath-Kankrebihar) and two other religious circuits namely, PashupatinathMuktinathGosaikunda-Varanasi-Kamakhya-Bhubaneshwar and Janakpur-Ayodhya during the first meeting of the joint working group (on tourism) held in New Delhi today.

Nepal-India
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.

Samrat Tours & Travels in MATTA Fair 2015

Samrat Tours & Travels in MATTA Fair 2015

Samrt Group Subsidiaries

We are going to participate in Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents’ (MATTA) 2015 will be held at the Putra World Trade Centre from 13 – 15 March, 2015 in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Opening hours of the MATTA Fair is from 10 am – 9 pm. We will be exhibiting our tourism products, Hotel and services. We will be offering discount packages of various Nepal Tour and Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. We request you to all visitors please visit our stall.

Contact Email: pandeycn@gmail.com , sales@samratgroup.org

Kathmandu-Varanasi direct bus service begins

Kathmandu-Varanasi direct bus service begins
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    KAILASH MANSAROVAR YATRA BY OVERLAND - 14 DAYS
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    Muktinath is one of the most ancient Hindu temples of God Vishnu.

A regular Kathmandu Varanasi bus service was flagged off amid a function in the Capital on Thursday. The Nepali registered ceremonial bus will follow the Kathmandu-Bhairahawa-Sunauli-Azamgarh-Varanasi route. The bus would be covering about 600 kms during its journey of about 12 hours. The bus service has been started under the provisions of Motor Vehicle Agreement between Nepal and India during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Nepal during the 19th Saarc Summit in November last year.

Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Bimalendra Nidhi and Ambassador of India to Nepal Ranjit Rae flagged off the bus service.  The flag-off ceremony was conducted from a spot near Dashrath Stadium, Kathmandu. Another regular bus operated by Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) from Varanasi to Kathmandu through the same route was also flagged-off from Varanasi by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday.  UPSRTC has fixed the ticket cost of Varanasi to Kathmandu bus at about Rs 2,100. “The start of regular bus service between Kathmandu and Varanasi is expected to enhance people to people contact and further strengthen ties between people of India and Nepal.

banaras-bus

The bus service is also likely to have a positive impact on the tourism industry as both Kathmandu and Varanasi are popular tourist destinations,” said a statement issued by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. Regular bus service on Kathmandu-Delhi route is already operating since November 25 last year. In the next phase Pokhara-Delhi route would be made operational for which consultation process between the officials of the two governments is already underway, added the statement. To discuss the issues related to implementation of bilateral Motor Vehicle Agreement for regulation of passenger traffic, an Indian delegation from Ministry Of Road Transport & Highways participated in a meeting with their Nepali Counterparts in Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport on Wednesday.

The implementation of this bilateral agreement would facilitate seamless and hassle-free movement of people between India and Nepal, said the Indian Embassy statement.

Along with the launching the bus service, flagging-off ceremony of Kathmandu-Varanasi service coincided with the flag-off of the first Indo-Nepal Friendship Motor Rally which was conducted on the same day at the same function.

Minister of Youth and Sports Purushottam Paudel and Indian Ambassador Rae flagged off the Motor Rally.

Source: Ekantipur