By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Nov. 28: As Nepal cautiously opens up to international visitors after the COVID-19 pandemic, it looks set to receive an encouraging number of tourists from Bangladesh.
This was the impression of Nepal’s tourism stakeholders received from the Nepal Sales Mission held in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The delegates representing Nepal at the Mission, organised by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) in association with the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), were told by their Bangladeshi counterparts that the soon-to-open Dhaka (Bangladesh)-Jalpaigudi (India) passenger train line will boost Nepal’s tourism vis-à-vis Bangladeshi travellers, as per a press release issued by NTB.
“The line will might prove a boon for Nepali tourism as it will give budget travellers a better option to reach Nepal by land,” the release stated, adding that the commencement of direct Kathmandu-Dhaka flights by Himalayan Airlines this week would also further help bring in Bangladeshi nationals to the country.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines also operates two flights a week between the capitals of the two countries.
According to statistics provided by the NTB, around 26,000 tourists came to Nepal from Bangladesh in 2018. However, that number declined sharply in the two years that followed due to the pandemic.
But now, tourism businesses in both the countries are optimistic that the numbers will grow in the coming days thanks to the declining infection rates and loosening restrictions in both the countries, the NTB’s press release said.
Speaking at the one-day programme where 14 tour operators from Nepal interacted with more than 50 Bangaldeshi travel and tour businesses, Kumar Rai, chargé d'affaires at the Nepali Embassy in Bangladesh, stated that the embassy would extend all possible assistance to promote Nepal in Bangladesh.
This is the second international sales mission. The first one was held last week in Sri Lanka.