Member of the National Assembly Yankila Sherpa expressing concern over the deteriorating peace and stability of the country said that tourism, one of the major foreign currency earners, cannot survive in such a situation. Speaking at a function organized by Nepal College of Travel and Tourism Management (NCTTM) on the eve of World Tourism Day here, the parliamentarian also said that the behavioral aspect of Nepalis has been going wrong.

Yogendra Shakya, Board Member of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said that the country has been able to produce quality manpower who are working abroad as well. He also attributed the emergence of private college to the production of such manpower. Chhaya Sharma, Director of NCTTM, said that conflict has pushed the tourism industry many years back and the trickle down effect can be seen in every sector of the national economy. However, she expressed the view that the students of tourism studies can steer the industry to a new direction in the future.

She also stressed that students should be disciplined to be academically sound and a good citizen. The theme of this year's tourism day is Tourism: driving Force for Poverty Alleviation, Job Creation and Social Harmony.Sabina Manandhar, student representative also spoke on the importance of tourism and parliamentarian Sherpa also distributed prizes and certificates to the best performing students of the college on the occasion.

OTHER NEWS

• World Tourism Day celebrations begin: World Tourism Day celebrations began here recently with the organisation of an interaction programme on 'Tourism for Sustainable Development'. It was followed by the inauguration of photo exhibition on 'Alps and Himalayas - Yesterday and Today'.The interaction programme had a technical session in which three different papers were presented, one each by Subash Nirola, Director at Nepal Tourism Board, Ravi Jung Pandey, programme manager at Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Programme, and Ashok Pokherel, former president of PATA. The first paper was on sustainable Tourism Development for Job Opportunities and social Harmony, and while the second and third papers dwelled on 'Rural Poverty Alleviation Through Tourism in Nepal' and 'Sustainable Tourism in Development of Nepal'.Inaugurating the programme at Nepal Tourism Board premises, Chief Secretary Bimal Koirala said that tourism is the backbone of Nepali economy and thus we all should accord higher priority for the development of this sector. Tek Bahadur Dangi, the CEO of Nepal Tourism Board, addressing the programme, said that Nepal has been celebrating World Tourism Day each year on September 27 with special activities. "All these activities are focussed on the promotion of tourism sector."
  
  
• International flight license spur controversy: The government's recent decision to issue licenses to Shangrila Air International and Cosmic Air International to operate international flights has created legal complications. According to high-level government sources, the decision was made in violation to the judicial stay order issued as per the petition filed by Air Nepal International (ANI). The Supreme Court had issued an interim order on September 2 instructing the government to issue air operating certificate to ANI, and the Patan Appellate court had barred the government on September 26 from taking any decision regarding the issuance of airlines operating license to other international airlines.
  
  
• Lack of TIC dampens Kapilvastu's tourism potential: In the lack of Tourist Information Centre (TIC), overseas as well as local tourists have been facing problems while visiting Kapilvastu, a destination that bears rich historic, archeological and cultural significance in western Nepal. A significant number of tourists visit Kapilvastu wherein places such as Tilaurakot (ancient Kapilvastu), the kingdom of King Suddhodhana, father of Lord Buddha, is located. As it is the place where Buddha spent 29 years of his life, the place has high religious value too. But, in the absence of TIC, there is no information on the number of tourists visiting the place. Also, this has prevented people from gathering true information on historical and archeological significance of the place. So much so, people visiting the area mostly find it difficult to find the route to various sites, sequence of travelling and information on the historical background of the place. "And the saddest part is that the government lacks plan for developing the site," say locals. Major attractions of the site include the palace and court of Suddhodhana, Ashoka Pillars set up by King Ashoka in Niglihawa and Gorihawa, and Sagarhawa - a place where 77,000 Shakyas were slaughtered. Apart from these, Kapilvastu has over 65 sites of historic and archeological significance.
  
  
• Martin Air joins Kathmandu, Amsterdam: Martin Air, a subsidiary of KLM Dutch Airlines, began its Kathmandu-Amsterdam flights recently. The Airlines is new to Nepal and has come after Transavia Airlines decided to pull out its operation from the Kathmandu sector last year. Martin Air's Boeing 757-200 landed in Tribhuvan International Airport at 15.35 hrs with 199 passengers on board. Tourism entrepreneurs, tourism officials and Marcopolo Travels, the GSA of Martin Air, welcomed the new airlines. Martin Air that fly to Kathmandu via Sarjah (UAE) will operate until August 14, 2004 and during every autumn seasons. Martin Air officials stated that the current fleet would be replaced by a Boeing 767-300ER aircraft from December 2003.
  
  
• Dashain celebrations lacked traditional luster: The zeal for celebrating Dashain, said to be "the greatest festival" of the Nepalese, this year amidst the prevailing insurgency in the country, was obviously not as vigorous as in earlier years. As elsewhere in the country, Dashain could not glow in its full colours in the capital too. With many stranded in the capital, prevented from gathering back home, there were others who could not entertain the visit of relatives from outside the valley. Yet others, the majority if not all, did not celebrate the festival as they used to, due to the gloomy atmosphere of the country.
  
  
• Tourist inflow up: In spite of last month's collapse of cease-fire, the number of foreign tourists coming into this Himalayan Kingdom continued to grow. The growth in tourist arrival during September is the sixth consecutive monthly increment.According to the statistics released by Department of Immigration a total arrival of 23,754 tourist came to Nepal this September, with a growth of 25 per cent, when compared to the arrivals during the same month last year. "Increase in arrival numbers reflects that tourism remains immune to internal political crisis in the country and the destination remains safe and attractive as ever," the NTB has stated in its press release issued here recently. Such increment comes with the ranking of Nepal as number one Eco-tourism destination by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) recently and the enlisting of three Nepalese hotels in Asia's top 300 hotels by a Hong-Kong based trade magazine.
  The WTO had ranked Nepal as first Eco-tourism destination for British tourist and had stated that Nepal is equally charming to many European tourists, A recent survey carried out by Insight Guides, Hong Kong's trade books listed Nepal's Dwarika's Hotel, Hotel Yak and Yeti and Kathmandu Guesthouse within the top 50 best hotels of Asia, last month. The survey was based on opinion polls carried out on 42,000 customers, including 3,813 contestant hotels and resorts in Asia and Pacific region. Insight Guides is a popular hotel guide published from Hong Kong. Of the total increment, the surge in tourist-arrival from those countries other than India stood at 25 per cent and the Indian tourists increased by 20 per cent. There was an arrival of 17,742 non-Indian tourists and 6,012 Indian tourists during September.
  
• Bird hit grounds RNAC Boeing: The Boeing 757 jetliner, "Karnali", of the Royal Nepal Airline Corporation (RNAC) that was preparing for a takeoff to Hong Kong was damaged after a bird hit the aircraft at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The general inspection of the aircraft has revealed that the bird hit has damaged four fan blades of the left engine of the aircraft, informed Ratish Lal Suman, chief at the Airworthiness Section of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). He further said that experts are undertaking boroscopic checks, that is, the inspection of the interior parts of the engine, of the bird-damaged aircraft. \"Once the inspection is completed, the actual damage will be known,\" he said.