Four
Polish Trekkers presumed missing, found safely at Lukla
The misleading news about four Polish nationals missing
from the trekking route of Jiri-Lukla since March 23rd,
2006 has been traced at Lukla this afternoon. As per
the Tourism Crisis Response Action Unit-member Mr. Ang
Tshering Sherpa's direct conversation with one of the
members of the said Polish team in Lukla, the fact has
been established that they were not abducted. Due to
the remote nature of trekking trails, where no communication
facilities were available they could not communicate
further after the 23rd March when they had some misunderstanding
with locals en-route to their destination. This prolonged
suspense without any information had indeed caused misinformation
as apparent in the news.
According to Nepalnews.com, the Maoist rebels had strongly
denied reports of kidnapping the group of four Polish
trekkers.
Talking to Nepalnews.com over phone Monday 27th, 2006
afternoon, district committee member of the CPN (Maoist)
in Solukhumbu district, Samul said it was against his
party's policy to abduct trekkers. He said the trekkers
were not in his party's captivity.
Nepal Tourism Board will update more information after
the arrival of all the four Polish trekking team in
Kathmandu. This fact has once again established that
Nepal has always been a safe destination for tourists
despite some baseless and misleading news and views.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maiden Nepal Sales Mission
in Eastern Europe
After the successful New Nepal Tourism
Brand launch at the ITB Berlin on 11 March 2006, Nepal
Tourism Board has organized the first ever Sales Mission
in the East European countries of Czech Republic, Poland
and Russia from 13 to 18 March 2006. Leading a delegation
of twelve top tour operators and hotels from Nepal,
NTB has organized Press Conferences and Tour Operators
Meet in the various cities and disseminated tourism
information and situation updates of the country in
Czech Republic and Poland on 14 and 15 March respectively.
In addition to promoting Nepal as a unique holiday destination,
NTB also facilitated the private sector participants
by providing them with a formal platform to interact
with their travel trade counterparts in these countries.
Addressing the Meet, Mrs. Nandini Lahe Thapa, Director-Marketing
and Promotion at Nepal Tourism Board said that the Himalayan
Kingdom of Nepal is a perfect getaway for people of
East Europe offering numerous adventure, cultural and
natural attractions and is the ideal destination to
have a memorable holiday. She further stressed that
Europeans in general and the fast growing East European
outbound market in particular have become high value
visitors for the entire Asian market. The increasing
interests in magnificent mountains, Buddhism, eco-tourism,
Asian cultures and traditions, buoyed by the burgeoning
economy in Eastern Europe makes these countries a very
potential market for Nepal. Highlighting on the vastly
improved safety and security situation in the country,
Ms Thapa stressed on the important role of the media
in building up a positive image of Nepal. A destination
presentation on Nepal was also made showcasing unique
attractions as Mt. Everest, Lumbini and Pashupatinath
and other cultural attractions of the country. The New
Nepal Tourism Brand “Naturally Nepal-
Once is not Enough.†was also presented
to the guests.
More than 130 media and tour operators attended the
program held in Prague, Czech Republic on 13 March.
In the second lag, more than 75 media and tour operators
attended the program held in Warsaw, Poland on 14 March.
While NTB focused on promoting the destination to the
media and trade invitees, the Nepalese travel trade
participants held serious B2B sessions in both the cities.
On the last lag, the Sales Mission
will head to Russia for the final program for the Media
and Travel Trade to held in Moscow on 17 March. The
participating companies at the East Europe Road Show
are: Euro Asia Travels & Tours, Explore Nepal Group,
Kathmandu Travels and Tours, Nature Trail Trekking,
Nepal Trailblazer Trekking, The Malla Hotel, Dharma
Adventures, Kathmandu Experience, Yeti Travels, Zenith
Experience and President Travels.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nepalese tourism Sales Mission
at Moscow
Nepal Tourism Board March 19, 2006
Press Release Under the coordination of Nepal Tourism
Board, Press Conferences and Tour Operators Meet was
organized at Royal Nepalese Embassy, Moscow, Russia
on March 17, 2006. Addressing the gathering, Royal Nepalese
Ambassador to Russian Federation Mr. Hiranya Lal Shrestha
said that Nepal has always been a center of attraction
to Russian because of its diverse culture and nature.
He further said that Russian Alpinists have shown great
interest in the Himalayas and culture of Nepal. Speaking
on the occasion, Mrs. Nandini Lahe Thapa, Director-Marketing
and Promotion at Nepal Tourism Board said that the increasing
interest in magnificent mountains, Buddhism, eco-tourism,
Asian cultures and traditions, buoyed by the burgeoning
economy makes Russia a very potential market for Nepal.
Highlighting the New Nepal Tourism Brand Naturally Nepal-
Once is not Enough, Ms. Thapa said that the new brand
has incorporated nature, culture and adventure which
is reflected in the brand. Senior tourism entrepreneur
and expert Mr. Karna Sakya highlighted the natural diversity
of Nepalese tourism products. The participating companies
are: Euro Asia Travels & Tours, Explore Nepal Group,
Kathmandu Travels and Tours, Nature Trail Trekking,
Nepal Trailblazer Trekking, The Malla Hotel, Dharma
Adventures, Kathmandu Experience, Yeti Travels, Zenith
Experience and President Travels.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NTB Participates in MATTA-MITM
Fair 2006
Nepal Tourism Board along with RNAC
and Eco Trek International participated in 16th MATTA-MITM
Fair, the largest trade exhibition in Malaysia held
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from March 17-19, 2006. Inaugurated
by Datuk Seri Adnan Tengku Mansor, Hon'ble Minister
of Tourism Malaysia, the fair was visited by more than
100,000 people during the three days event while the
exhibitors representing hotels, resorts, airlines, NTOs,
Tour Operators and agents from more than 20 countries
participated in the fair. Nepal stall was visited by
around 15,000 customers and more than 200 trade visitors.
Nepal as a premiere holiday destination is well established
in Malaysia though there is a rising demand of promotional
packages. However, Nepal selling travel agents seemed
to be waiting for the development in the political scenario
and for the solution of the deadlock in the present
crisis. Since Malaysia is an emerging outbound market
with more than 4.5 million outbound a year and with
rising living standard and disposable income, traveling
is increasingly becoming a part of their life. Nepal
has competitive advantage for the different market segments
in the market as majority of them were found to be interested
in trekking, hiking and soft adventure. Pilgrimage is
equally promising among the Indian community. This participation
is expected to further widen the perspectives and explore
new areas of market for Nepal Tourism industry in the
days to come. As part of an ongoing new branding exercise
with the slogan "NATURALLY NEPAL -ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH",
this participation has paved a way to allure more tourists
from these potential markets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Minister Mrs. Yankila
Sherpa launches New Nepal Tourism Brand at ITB 2006
Honorable State Minister for Culture,
Tourism and Civil Aviation Ms. Yankila Sherpa launched
the Nepal tourism brand Naturally Nepal- Once is not
Enough developed by Nepal Tourism Board at ITB Berlin,
Germany on Mar. 11,2006 amidst a grand function.
The official tourism brand launching ceremony for the
international media and Tour Operators took place at
ICCs Hall 7 at ITB Complex. The grand ceremony was attended
by more than hundred and fifty delegates including former
Deputy Secretary General of UNWTO- Mr. David de Velleirs.
Hon'ble State Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil
Aviation Ms. Yankila Sherpa while inaugurating new tourism
brand of Nepal said, "On behalf of my country,
I express my great pleasure to share this historic moment
of Nepal's Brand Launching here at ITB-Berlin amidst
the international travel industry, dignitaries and friends
of Nepal. In fact, this is the second leg of our brand
launch program, with the first launch already having
been conducted successfully at home country, Nepal on
05 March 2006. We have chosen ITB as our venue, realizing
its capacity to bring together the world's important
stakeholders, tourism leaders and journalists. We are
very confident that the Brand image will be instrumental
in increasing the number of tourists to Nepal."
The State Minister also appraised the invitees about
the current political situation and the mission and
vision of the present government under the leadership
of His Majesty the King post February 1, 2005 and the
government's commitment to promote the tourism industry
at large. She emphasized that the safety and the security
situation has improved vastly and the Government is
making all efforts to strengthen democracy as proved
by the recently held local elections. She also informed
that the under liberal sky policy, HMG of Nepal is on
the verge of introducing lucrative policies to entice
European Airlines to fly into Nepal.
Similarly, His Excellency the Royal Nepalese Ambassador
to the Federal Republic of Germany Dr. Madan Kumar Bhattarai
also addressed the gathering and said that Nepal, country
of the highest mountains on Earth and deepest gorges,
also known as the land of Living Goddess and the origin
of Buddhism in the world, today shares its abundance
beauty with the rest of the world, with a New Brand,
its natural image called 'Naturally Nepal-once is not
enough.
Mr. Tek Bahadur Dangi- Chief Executive Officer of Nepal
Tourism Board made a comprehensive presentation on the
extensive research process behind the new tourism brand.
He said that New Nepal Brand is expected to be instrumental
in addressing the needs of all the existing and emerging
tourists of our target markets. "Series of campaign
activities tied up in the branding process will ultimately
keep Nepal on great competitive edge. Our destination
brand is the totality of perceptions that a customer
holds about the experiences associated with an exotic
place which is to be promoted as the next generation
mountain destination," he further said.
NTB CEO stressed that New tourism brand launched at
the ITB Berlin is the outcome of intense brainstorming
exercises and research intended to meet the challenges
of the growing industry. He further mentioned that the
new branding concept will cover entire activities that
Nepal has been offering to the world with a new dimension.
Mr. Dangi stressed that the thrust of new brand is to
reinvent Nepals diversity, modernity and cultural heritage.
Other distinguished personalities to address the brand
launching ceremony were Mrs. Marion Butler- PATA Europe
Director, Mr. Rok Klancik-Director, Press and Communication-UNWTO.
The speakers on the occasion highlighted on the tourism
potential of Nepal and said that the tag line Once is
not Enough is very true for Nepal with more than forty
percent repeat visitors and committed support of these
two giant organizations. Brand launch program also presented
its destination highlights along with colourful cultural
programme followed by a reception with delicious Nepalese
cuisine. The headline of the new Nepal Brand Unleash
yourself Body, Mind, Soul was received with great enthusiasm
and appreciation.
Prior to this Honorable Minister
also had a meeting with Mrs. Brunhilde Irber- Member
of the German Bundestag who is also the Member/ Deputy
Chairwoman of the committee on tourism at Nepal Stand
on 10 th March 2006. During the meeting, State Minister
informed that Nepal has been serving as a hub of adventure
tourism in the region due to its strategic location.
She also expressed her desire to forge closer cooperation
between the two nations in areas like civil aviation,
mountaineering, culture, infrastructure development,
investment opportunities and conservation of cultural
and natural sites which Madame Irber took very positively.
Madame Irber also accepted the invitation of the State
Minister to visit Nepal with key members of the German
Parliament in the near future. On the same day, Hon
State Minister also attended a luncheon hosted by PATA
for key travel trade and media personalities and exchanged
her ideas with PATA CEO and others on possible areas
of cooperation for tourism development in Nepal. On
the evening of same day, the State Minister also attended
and addressed a Reception hosted by the Non- Resident
Nepalis Association headed by Mr. Dil Gurung - President
NRN Germany and PRR of Nepal Tourism Board.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nepal Launches New Tourism Brand
For years, Nepal has been known
as a land of Mt. Everest, sublime scenery, arcane temples,
and some of the best walking trails on earth combined
with exciting adventurous activities, which has positioned
it as a unique, and interesting travel destination.
But lately Nepalese tourism industry has felt necessary
to reposition its image in the international tourism
market with a popular brand amidst the stiff competition
among destinations. New Brand, which was unveiled on
March 5, 2005 , is a contemporary approach of promotion
that Nepal 's tourism industry has taken so far to re-position
the country in the competitive world of destination
promotion.
To project the myriad images of Nepal in a condensed
way, Nepal Tourism Board has launched a New Tourism
Brand incorporating entire spectrum of tourism products/services,
which provides leeway to Nepal to promote and market
its tourism product in a complete package. The New Tourism
Brand will be adopted by all the travel trade and other
concerned agencies that market Nepal nationally or internationally.
Explaining the New Tourism Brand,
Tek Bahadur Dangi- Chief Executive Officer of Nepal
Tourism Board says: “New Nepal Brand
will be instrumental in increasing the number of tourists
to Nepal . Prior to this Campaign, we were solely dependant
on the individual overseas tour operators to promote
Nepal but we will now all be working together in a concerted,
focused and centralized effort to penetrate new segment
of consumer market also that has great potential.â€
The thrust of New Tourism Brand
is to reinvent Nepal ’s diversity,
modernity and cultural heritage while keeping in view
the sustainability and environmental aspects at bay.
To be very precise, Nepal 's New Tourism Brand is all
about the true feeling of hospitality; smiling people;
festivals throughout the year; extreme adventure &
air sports; meditation and many more. "Our philosophy
is that a destination brand is the totality of perceptions
that a customer holds about the experiences associated
with a place," Mr. Dangi adds.
The brand, developed by India based social infrastructure
agency Alchemy, is the result of more than six months
of research and planning with the Board in consultation
with a wide range of other private and government agencies
in Nepal, India and other major tourist generating market.
The massive collaborative exercise has been carried
out to unleash the Nepal 's tourism brand in a given
time frame. The new brand has tried to redefine Nepalese
tourism with a different flavor. Though Nepal 's traditional
role as a destination is important, it must not only
retained but also improve upon- through the reformulation
of the Nepal product into a truly world class one. And
with a strategic location and supporting infrastructure,
Nepal is well suited to be both short and long haul
destination. This option has been explored in this branding.
The reformulation of the Nepal product is about building
upon existing strengths and minimizing in on the weakness.
It is about catering to the myriad interests of the
visitors while ensuing that locals' own needs are met.
These all approaches are incorporated in new brand,
which will address the global concept of branding a
destination. While every care is being taken to attract
Indian tourists for weekend from Indian cities, more
emphasis is being given to long haul tourists coming
to Nepal for adventure holidays from Europe and America.
The new tourism brand has evolved with three major segments:
Weekends breaks, Adventure holidays and Lifetime experience.
Weekend break deals specially for Indian markets and
other regional markets due to their proximity and easy
air connectivity and Adventure and Lifetime experience
aims at long haul markets like USA , Europe , Australia
and others.
Unlike other countries, tourism branding exercise carried
out by NTB is considered to be cost effective in terms
of huge expenses that are being made by other countries
in branding. NTB's brand consulting Company Alchemy
Social Infrastructure was hired though global tender
based on their merit of cost effective budget which
was deemed appropriate in view of NTB's resource dispensation.
Minimum amount required for the effective Brand campaign
in India and other primary markets like UK, Germany,
France and other South East Asian countries was proposed
to be in tune of NRs. 10 crore Nepali Rupees for Guerilla
type of brand campaign, however, due to the paucity
of funds with the Government and NTB, the proposition
could not be entertained. Therefore, austerity campaign
measure is adopted by NTB to handle with bare minimum
budget of nearly 2.5 crore within this Fiscal year.
After an extensive research and substantive ground work
of nearly six months, NTB has finally rolled out this
new brand to kick start the process of campagain from
the home front followed by unveiling at ITB-Berlin in
March 11, 2006 by Minister of State of Culture, Tourism
and Civil Aviation, Mrs Yankilla Sherpa.
It is an appropriate forum to share the good news that
Nepal tourism Board has bagged the prestigious PATA
Gold Award in CD-ROM category for the year 2006 for
the second time. We believe that the award of this nature
has inspired the travel industry of Nepal in general
and NTB in particular amidst the brand-launching extravaganza
that is taking place nationally and internationally.
Now, the new brand will have a lot of ingredient to
make strong its stance in the tourism marketplace.
This new tourism brand is first of its kind created
with professional expertise in the tourism history of
Nepal . Previously also, lots of national programs were
run but they were not based on the outcome of research
and surveys. However, this new tourism brand is absolutely
backed by the research and surveys, hence has lot of
ingredients to support for the yield subject to availability
of matching resources and required environment. Therefore,
if this new brand is owned by all the major stakeholders
of tourism industry in the country with the support
of our foreign counterparts with univocal voice for
its promotions at all levels, NTB is optimistic to generate
desired outcome from this national brand exercise. Nepal
Tourism Board firmly believes that tourism industry
of Nepal will find belongingness in this national tourism
brand- closer to its heart.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NTB Bags PATA Gold Award
in CD-Rom Category
Press Release February 23;
2006
The Pacific Asia Travel Association has announced to
award PATA Gold Award in CD ROM Category to Nepal Tourism
Board's recently produced CD-ROM on Nepal's tourism.
It is a matter of great pride to NTB to bag the same
category of award twice; one in the Year 2000 and 2006
respectively. The winning campaigns were selected from
more than 200 Gold Award entries by panels of international
experts in each category. The awards were open to both
PATA and non-PATA members. Bringing together nearly
100 state and city tourism authorities; over 55 national
and regional airlines; and a plethora of travel industry
companies and professionals; PATA continues to expand
its ever-growing membership base through its headquarter
at Bangkok; Thailand. To win prestigious international
PATA Gold Award in CD ROM category twice is a testimony
of NTB's professional approach toward destination marketing
in a short period of its establishment.
In a cutting edge technology of
the world today; many of the destinations of the world
use state of the art technology for portraying their
destination image through web; CD; DVD or other electronic
means. However; Nepal being a tiny but beautiful country
with huge bio-diversity has been able to discreetly
execute the contemporary means of technology to wrap
up entire gamut of tourism products and services in
a most user entertaining and friendly means.
The award CD ROM; offers precise
information about Nepal's tourism; with hundreds of
photographs; write ups; music and videos; in nine different
sections: The Country; Facts for Visitors; Tourist Destinations;
National Parks; Trekking and Mountaineering; Rafting
and Kayaking; Other Outdoor Activities; Suggested Itineraries
and Tourism Related Services. It also includes a powerful
multimedia CD; with a well-designed interface and excellent
audio-visual content; which makes it wonderfully easy
to get to know Nepal and its tourism products. Inclusion
of hundreds of new photos; selected maps; screensavers
and music track in the CD Rom has made it more vibrant
for users to download them for their personal use. It
also features a special presentation slide show accompanied
by an interesting fusion of modern sound effect and
traditional Nepali music; virtual tours; and music can
be listened separately.
Targeted at tourists and potential
visitors as well as the travel trade; the CD-ROM provides
a detailed overview of Nepal with the aim of providing
a good first impression of the beauty and diversity
of the country. In addition to offering detailed information
on the country’s
culture; people and natural characteristics; through
useful travel tips the CD-ROM also shows Nepal to be
a safe and relaxing tourism destination.
The Pacific Asia Travel Association
presents Gold Awards annually to travel related organizations
and individuals recognizing their outstanding achievement
in a variety of endeavors; bringing acclaim to the best
the region’s
travel industry has to offer.
All award recipients will be honoured
during a special luncheon at the 55th PATA Annual Conference
in Pattaya; April 23-27; 2006.
Based in Thailand; the Pacific Asia
Travel Association –
PATA; is today; the authority on travel to Asia and
the Pacific region. PATA continues to promote the myriad
facets and features of this remarkable region; uniting
the many tourism authorities to provide travelers a
comprehensive service of information and services.
NTB hired a renowned professional
Nepali IT Consultant Mr. Khusbu Sarkar Shrestha to develop
its CD ROM twice in 2000 and 2006 with vision and details
as outlined by NTB professionals.
To capitalize the potential of pilgrimage
tourism of Nepal in India; Nepal Tourism Board has invited
half a dozen of journalists from both print and electronic
media from India to cover Shivaratri at Pashupathinath
Temple.
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