Middle East Tour, Travel Mart Focus on Nepal

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), along with the country’s five private travel trade companies and national flag carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation participated in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2009 that was held at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, from May 5 to8.

Considering the increased air accessibility to the Middle East region, the Nepalese tourism industry gave continuity to its ATM participation for the third time to keep tapping expatriates as well as Emirate travelers’ market for Nepal.

This year, the special focus was on creating awareness about Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011, according to NTB.

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, inaugurated the ATM on May 5 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC).

ATM 2009 boasted of more than 2,100 exhibitors and stand-sharers, from 69 countries including 70 new-to-market representatives as well as nearly 60 national tourist bodies representing six continents.

Organized by Reed Exhibitions Middle East, ALUMINIUM Dubai featured 166 travel trade participants from 24 countries and brought in a steady flow of buyers to ATM 2009 for three days running. The last day was exclusively for consumers and careers and attracted mixed nationality individual travelers to ATM 2009 to look for various holiday options.

At the Nepal stand, most of the queries were about connectivity and the attractions of Nepal especially soft adventure and scenic beauty. Some of the big outbound travel companies showed keen interest in putting Nepal on their list of their outbound destinations as an upcoming holiday destination for UAE market.

According to NTB, people in the Middle East have tremendous interest in Nepal’s Himalayas and natural beauty along with soft adventure activities like rafting, jungle safari and Mt. Everest flight.

In view of the good connectivity through Nepal Airlines Corporation, Etihad Airways, Bahrain Air, Air Arabia, Gulf Air and Qatar Airways, tour operators there said they felt the necessity to float special tour packages for Nepal.

Nepal’s ambassador to the UAE Arjun Bahadur Thapa along with embassy officials visited the ATM 2009 and especially the Nepal stall to interact with NTB officials and those of participating companies Aside from NTB, Nepal Airlines Corporation, KGH Group, Gokarna Forest Resort, Sierra International Travel & Tours, the Everest Hotel and Yeti Travels participated in the Mart.