By Bhushita Vasistha
“Actually, I haven't really traveled outside the Kathmandu Valley," Robin Nakarmi, answered hesitatingly when asked the purpose of visiting the National Tourism Festival 2008 at World Trade Centre on Friday. "Tourism is my first love. I don't miss a single program related to it."
Robin, 20, has been to Pokhara and Chitwan but he doesn't like calling the trips "traveling".
"Oh, of course, I've been to some places of Nepal. But then, that's not traveling. I mean, I haven't traveled anywhere outside Nepal."
Robin is just a case in a point. Still, a larger chunk of urbanites don't really find local tourism spots appealing enough to visit. Even though thin streams of local tourists circulate throughout the country, the purpose is usually more spiritual or religious than tourism.
"We have huge potential local tourists in urban Nepal. However, we've not been able to encourage them well enough to get into it. Therefore, the main purpose of this expo is to introduce Kathmanduites to the local tourist destinations," Prachanda Man Shrestha, Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), said, explaining the objective of the expo.
The fair will focus largely on introducing Nepal's local tourist destinations to the urbanites while developing the relationship among the diverse stakeholders to bring local tourism to new height. The main target of the fair is urban population or the neo-rich group that is swelling considerably in Kathmandu.
Prior to these kinds of national festivals, NTB had been conducting several local festivals in different parts of the country.
"That was our first step to strengthen the roots of tourism via local means. Now, we've gathered enough experience and resources to conduct such festivals at national level. That is our second step," Shrestha explained further.
Through this expo, NTB not just plans to support local communities but also to bring them together under the same umbrella to work for better causes.
NTB had organized similar expo a year ago. "However," Shrestha recalled, "the response wasn't all that good. Therefore, this year, we've made a point not to repeat our past errors and localize the event as far as possible."
The expo that will run through a couple of days has over fifty stalls from around Nepal.
Shobha Utipal, one of the exhibitors from Lumbini, said, pointing to her dhakis, "We used to make these dhakis only for marriage and actually we were not really praised for making them, while earning money was a far cry. But I'm elated to take part in the exhibition because here people aren't just interested in them but are also willing to buy them."
"The expo has made us feel worthy. I feel we can be recognized through our skills, no matter how rustic they are," Birma Tharu added while agreeing with Shobha.
The expo, while promoting the already famous tourist destinations like Pokhara, Chitwan, Ilam, among others, is also introducing new local tourist spots. Sunsari and Morang, for example, have long been ignored in terms of tourism.
"This time, we're introducing Sunsari and Morang as Virgin East just as we're promoting Jhapa and neighboring districts as Wild West," informed Sharad Pradhan, media consultant of NTB.
"We need to have this kind of festivals as frequently as possible," Kabita KC, 29, said while admiring a harpe , a wooden container at the Solukhumbu stall. "If it weren't for this exhibition, I wouldn't have known that Nepal was as amazing as this. I wonder why they took this long to organize it," she added.
"The truth is we didn't have enough resources then," Subash Niraula, senior director of NTB and the coordinator of the expo, explained. "However, we should be happy that we managed it this year, even though we weren't really equipped. I guess, it's always better to be late than never."
Even though NTB is trying to promote domestic tourism, the fact that Nepalis are not allowed to travel in the green-plated tourist vehicles stands in stark contrast to the project.
"That's a different mechanism," CEO Shrestha said. "There are two different laws, transport law and tourism law. We're also using this expo as a forum to identify the issues of local tourism and sort them out as soon as possible."
To encourage local tourism among businessmen and their employees, the Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) proposed to business houses to allow certain prerogatives to its staffs to travel around the country.
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