Nepal Tourism Year 2011 has seen the best year for tourism in Nepal. Acording to Nepal Tourism Board, there were 719,547 visitors in 2011, including those travelling over land. Tourists through air increased by 21 percent compared to last year. Most of the growth have come from neighbouring India and China. Though the number is lower than the anticipated million visitor mark, this is the highest ever in Nepal, made possible by recent peace progress in the country. Tourism accounts for seven percent of Nepal's national GDP.

Danish soft rock band Michael Learns To Rock (MLTR) are currently in Kathmandu. They will be performing live at a concert at Tundikhel tomorrow (19th November, 2011). This is the second such concert by an international artiste/ band in Kathmandu to be held in Nepal Tourism Year 2011 (first was Bryan Adams’ concert in Feb).

Dolaghat Festival is being jointly organized by Dulaleswor Environmental and Social Service Club and Kavre Integrated Development Society from April 11 to promote Nepal Tourism year 2011. Dolalghat, which lies three hours drive away from Kathmandu near the Nepal- Tibet border, is a popular destination for rafting. The  Sun Koshi River Rafting adventure usually begins from Dolalghat.
The week-long festival will feature various cultural programs, food festival and riverside activities like beach volleyball, rafting, canoeing etc.

White Water Rafting

A two-day (Mach 29-30, 2011)  national conference on “homestay” for tourists has been organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) in the capital. Homestay , a form of tourism where tourists stay in a private home and experience daily life with their host’s family and community sharing local life and culture, is proving to be quite popular in  rural areas where hotels and lodges are few or non-existent. This concept which was introduced in Nepal 2007 and has grown quite popular is expected to boost rural tourism during Nepal Tourism year 2011.

Arround 150 participants are attending the conference.  Working policies and various issues related to homestay will be discussed.

Nuwakot Homestay (Pic: Valeriy Gyerkal)

For ‘Homestays’ in Nuwakot, write to us at enquiry@explorehimalaya.com.

Nepal Tourism Board along with 23 travel companies from Nepal participated at the world’s biggest travel fair, ITB held in the German city of Berlin from March 9 to 13, 2011. Nepal and Nepal Tourism Year 2011 was promoted at the fair as “the birth place of Lord Buddha and the cradle of Buddhism”. The Nepal delegation organized a press conference which was attended by more than 60 German media representatives and tour operators. ITB Berlin 2011 had 11000 exhibitors from 188 counties.A total of 110,000 trade people and 700plus media professionals from 92 countries including a total of 170,000 people visited the trade fair.