POKHARA, Dec 7: The Gandaki Province chapter of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) has launched a week-long inter-provincial tourism promotion campaign to increase the arrival of domestic tourists in Pokhara. NATTA will promote tourism in various cities of the Koshi and Madhesh provinces with the expectation of attracting domestic visitors from the eastern region to Pokhara.
Kishor Dahal, President of the Gandaki chapter of NATTA, announced that they have launched a campaign to promote domestic tourism. He explained that they are currently running promotional campaigns in various cities of the Koshi and Madhesh provinces. He also shared that a team of businessmen embarked on a tour of the eastern region on Saturday. After completing the campaign in the eastern region, he added, they will launch a similar campaign in the western region.
“This campaign aims to bring domestic visitors from the eastern region to Pokhara,” Dahal told Republica, “We are inviting domestic tourists to visit Pokhara.” He added that during the promotional campaign, they will meet, discuss, and interact with tourism businesses and stakeholders in Janakpur of Madhesh province, and in Ilam and Biratnagar of Koshi province.
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“NATTA runs promotional campaigns in various cities of Nepal through marketing efforts for domestic tourists from time to time,” he said, “This campaign, which targets tourists from the eastern region, is expected to bring more domestic visitors to Pokhara in the future.” He added that NATTA also runs similar programs internationally.
According to Dahal, tourism businesses from bordering Indian cities will participate in the meetings and discussions held in various cities. Since local and Indian businesses will carry out the promotion in those areas, he stated that this campaign will also make it easier to bring Indian tourists to Pokhara.
“A sufficient number of domestic tourists already come from the eastern region to Pokhara, which also serves as a stopover for many domestic visitors who plan to embark on Muktinath pilgrimage,” he said.
He mentioned that this campaign could also increase the arrival of Indian visitors. He explained that the arrival of Indian visitors had decreased after a bus accident involving Indians in Nepal a few months ago, but this campaign could help boost the number of Indian visitors.
“The arrival of Indian visitors in Nepal has continuously declined after the Indian bus accident and we expect this campaign to increase the number of Indian visitors in the future," he said, “The marketing efforts that businesses have started are expected to positively impact the tourism sector.” According to him, the arrival of Indian visitors in Nepal has decreased every month since the Indian bus accident.
General Secretary of the Gandaki chapter of the NATTA, Chetan Karki, said the campaign aims to promote tourism in the Pokhara region by attracting domestic tourists. “The main goal of this campaign is to promote domestic tourism. We are inviting tourists from the eastern region to visit Pokhara, and we expect this will increase the arrival of visitors," he said, "We also need to convey the message that Pokhara is suitable for tourism throughout the year.”
NATTA has organized farm tours since 2004 and promotional tours since 2008. According to estimates in the tourism sector, domestic visitors contribute at least 40 percent to Pokhara's tourism. During weekly or extended public holidays, Pokhara attracts a large number of domestic visitors.
The tourism sector has stated that domestic visitors have provided some relief to Pokhara's tourism industry amid a dissipating number of visits from Indian tourists. Business owners have noted that, to some extent, domestic visitors are compensating for the lack of foreign visitors.
