POKHARA, May 23: “Currently, rumors are doing the rounds in India that frequent aftershocks have made travel to Nepal risky. It turned out, however, that the situation here isn’t as dangerous,” said Radha Kisan of Tamil Nadu, who is leading a group of Indian pilgrims in Nepal. “We didn’t believe it and so we came to see for ourselves. The rumors turned out to be false.”
According to her, the false information has led many Indian tourists to cancel their trip to Nepal. “Indian tourists are too frightened to come to Nepal due to such rumors,” she said. “Although the earthquake has badly hit Kathmandu and some other districts, we made a trip to Muktinath temple and Pokhara without facing problems,” said Radha. “A Nepali guide told us that it is not as risky here as has been projected. So, we trusted him and came here,” she added. The group consists of 52 tourists. They will return to India after visiting Chitwan.
Besides bad weather, which led to cancellation of their flights to Jomsom, they said their trip was smooth. According to her, a team of 30 tourists from Tamil Nadu had cancelled their trip to Muktinath. “We are the only tourist team to visit Nepal after the quake. Other teams can also visit Nepal as the situation is not as dangerous,” said Radha.
Ambassador Sherpa refutes rumors in media
Bijaya Kumar Chachan, tour guide for the Indian team, confirmed that false information has prevented many Indian tourists from visiting Nepal. “The media has been spreading rumors about Nepal. My team has proved them wrong,” he said, hoping that others would also travel to Nepal.
Gyesmoti Patel of Chattisgarh, India, said she did not find any reason to be afraid to travel to Nepal. “Only negative information about Nepal has reached India. They should be told the truth. Unless the positive message reaches there, not many Indian tourists would travel here,” she added.
