Panel formed to work for recovery of tourism industry

KATHMANDU, May 8: To minimize the negative impact of the earthquake and to revive the tourism industry by rebuilding cultural heritages sites and rehabilitating trekking trails, Tourism Recovery Committee (TRC) comprising of government officials and private sector has been formed on Thursday.

According to Suman Pandey, spokesperson of the committee and chairman of PATA Nepal Chapter, TRC has been formed to study impact of the earthquake on tourism industry and for speedy recovery of the industry by identifying short-term and long-term activities to be carried out by concerned stakeholders."The committee will work to study the impact made by the earthquake on hotels, historic monuments and trekking routes and bring out the real picture to the world as early as possible. The international market has been getting the message that Nepal is not capable of welcoming tourists. But it is not so," Pandey said, adding, "The outcomes of the study will give us the clear picture about the current status of the tourism industry."

The committee has decided to carry out rapid inspection of hotels in coordination with Hotel Association of Nepal, study the status of cultural heritage sites and monuments in coordination with Nepal Association of Tour Operators (NATO), and study the condition of trekking trails in coordination with Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN).

"Once we get the reports, we will recommend to the government for necessary action, request government to allocate budget for maintenance and then carry out effective marketing campaign for the revival of tourism industry," added Pandey.

Tulsi Prasad Gautam, director general of Department of Tourism (DoT), is the coordinator of the committee. Presidents of HAN, Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), TAAN, NATO, Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), PATA Nepal Chapter and Society of Travel and Tour Operators Nepal (SOTTO Nepal) are members of the committee. Similarly, one director-level employee each from Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) and Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) are also in the committee as members.

The committee has appointed Ramesh Kumar Adhikari, administrative chief of NTB, as member secretary.

TRC has opened its secretariat in NTB premises. A three-member team led by Deepak Raj Joshi, senior officer of NTB, comprising Jyotsna Khadka, CEO of PATA Nepal and Reshma Singh of NATO has been given the responsibility of looking after daily activities of the secretariat.

Related story

Tourism revival task force formed to revitalize tourism industr...