After experiencing a two-and-half-year period of tourist-decline, Pokhara, one of the most attractive tourist destinations of Nepal, has received an unexpected number of foreign visitors last month. Elated and excited on the eve of Dashain, the greatest festival of the country, the tourism entrepreneurs of Pokhara were busy extending warm hospitality to tourists from around the world.

The days of the boatmen, tourist guides and the others associated with the hospitality industry including travel agents are appearing brighter. "Almost all the hotels at the lakeside area including the popular Shangri-la and Bluebird are enjoying cent per cent room occupancy," says Biplav Poudel, secretary of the Regional Hotel Association. The inflow of the tourists, however, has come as an unexpected boon for the tourism entrepreneurs who had seen the worst days during last few years. "The sight of tourists again has come as a relief despite the internal conflicts," he said, further hoping that arrivals would increase further.

According to the Regional Hotel Association, hotel occupancy, local handicrafts and recreational activities have registered remarkable growth. The influx of tourists once more has provided the jobless with employment.. Some hoteliers say that they have recruited almost 300 hands in the last one month. Meanwhile, nightlife has resumed in Pokhara. "The restaurants that remained open till six in the evening now run till eleven pm," says Shreelal Subedi, general secretary of the Restaurants and Bar Association of Nepal (REBAN)- Pokhara. Live musical bands, Dohori songs (repartee), cultural programmes and other such activities are regular features in the hotels bordering the lakeside.

According to a data, almost 1000 tourists visit Pokhara every day, some 300 of whom arrive in tourist buses. Basudev Tripathi, president of Nepal Association of Travel Agents, Pokhara Chapter says that the number of tourists would increase by two-fold if peace would come back to the country. Almost 65 per cent of the total tourists visiting Pokhara, enjoy trekking to the Annapurna region. The remaining, however, soak in the panoramic beauty of the Himalayan range. Despite the present atmosphere of hope and happiness, locals fear that the fragile state of the country would again have a negative impact on tourism.

OTHER NEWS

• Still no clue about Italian trekker's whereabouts: Trekking and mountaineering enthusiast Tiziana Pellegatta, an Italian citizen, is missing in Nepal since April 2003. Her parents are arriving in Nepal next month to look for her. Pellegatta was attracted to Nepal due to its landscapes and mountains. She saw here an opportunity to pursue her hobby to the fullest and came here as a volunteer for an NGO 'Hands for Help, Nepal'. Through the organisation, she worked as an English teacher at Malpur Lower Secondary School in Sauraha, Chitwan.
  
  
• Too many Nepali women die during childbirth: Nepal has a very high maternal mortality rate with latest reports putting the figure at under 600 mothers per 1000 live births. In plain terms about 4,500 pregnant mothers die every year in unsuccessful deliveries.
  
  
• Dipankar mask handed over to trustees: Austrian ambassador Mrs Jutta Stefan Bastl handed over the 17th century mask of Dipankar Buddha to Guthiyars (trustees) here recently. The sacred mask was stolen from Nag Bahal, Patan on January 17, 2002 and was discovered in Vienna after a German art dealer tried to sell it to the Ethnographic Museum in Vienna in April, 2002, at an asking price of US $ 200,000. This is the first incident in Nepal of repatriation of such a valuable piece after theft. Only stone icons stolen from Nepal had been repatriated in the past after their discovery in foreign lands.
  
  
• Government tries to woo international carriers: In a latest bid to attract international air carriers, the government has decided to provide a significant concessions on the landing fees to all international and domestic airlines landing on Nepali soil for the next two years, effective from October 22, 2003. "The discounts on landing fees would be 20 percent for international carrier and 30 percent for domestic airliner," said Yagya Prasad Gautam, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.
  
  
• Winter creeping in, pollution going up: With winter beginning to affect Kathmandu valley life, air pollution resulting from fine solid particles has started increasing. Even those places in the valley, which had witnessed "very good" air quality standard during the recent monsoon, are now showing that air quality is gradually deteriorating. The most polluted places of the valley like the Putalisadak and Patan areas have begun to see pollution level soaring. The quality of air in Thamel has now reached to the unhealthy category, according to the weekly valley air quality monitoring results published here recently by the Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE). This is the first time that Thamel's air quality has deteriorated since the beginning of this year's monsoon on June 16.