KATHMANDU, Jan 18: According to Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Yogesh Bhattarai, the long-awaited tourist bus park in Pokhara will come into operation within 2020.

Speaking at the 53rd annual general meeting (AGM) of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), Bhattarai said that the construction of the tourist bus park in Pokhara is in the final phase. “Department of Tourism, under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation is carrying out the construction of the tourist bus park in Pokhara,” he said adding that he is hopeful of the operation of tourist bus park at Balaju to the soonest. “The government is collaborating with the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to build the tourist bus park in the city,” he further added.

C N Pandey, president of NATTA, during the AGM had drawn the government's attention to the need to construct the tourist bus park for making the tourism sector effective. In response to the concern, Bhattarai said that the ministry is easing the process of issues including the tourist bus park. “The government will allocate appropriate budget for such projects in the days to come,” Bhattarai added.

Tourism entrepreneurs have long been seeking for the collaboration and initiation from government in building separate tourist bus parks for vehicles carrying tourists to different destinations of the country. The need for the construction of tourist bus park in the capital has been raised by the Tourist Bus Association of Nepal (TBAN) and NATTA since the country celebrated Visit Nepal Year 2011. Tourist buses had been using the area of Kantipath, Kathmandu as a temporary tourist bus park during the morning time. The bus park was later moved to Sorhakhutte in 2018.

“The government will also look into constructing bus parks in places where tourist flow is comparatively high,” Bhattarai said. “The government will collaborate with stakeholders in this matter as the government is determined to work as to make traveling easier for tourists.”

Meanwhile, addressing the program Sunil Kumar Rumalla, president of Universal Federation of Travel Agents Associations (UFTAA) said that the number of travelers are expected to double by 2037; 27 share being from the Asia-Pacific region. “As travel agents, we need to step up to improve our marketing strategy and connect ourselves to the world,” he shared. “The clients over the year shave transformed into proactive service seekers. Unlike the practices in the past, they reach out to the agencies with their preferences for trips, food, accommodation and traveling medium.”

According to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), India currently has about 20 million outbound tourists and it is predicted to go up to 50 million, given an annual growth of 10%-12% over the last seven years. “It would be better if a million or two would choose Nepal as their travel destination, but are we ready with relevant infrastructure?” he questioned.

 
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• Balaju
 
• Kantipath
 
• Sorhakhutte
 
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