Government working on tourism revival plan

By A Staff Reporter Kathmandu, July 7: Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha has said that his ministry will work to promote nature-based tourism. 

Speaking at a programme organised to release a documentary "Women's Voice from the Himalaya" organised by SaathSaathai on Wednesday, Minister Shrestha said that the ministry is going to start a campaign of waste management in the Himalayas to manage tourism well as to help minimize ice melting.

"We have formed a working committee to revive the tourism sector that was hampered by the COVID pandemic and the committee will submit its report within a week. I will forward the work as per the suggestion provided by the committee for tourism development," Minister Shrestha said. 

"We are already witnessing the impact of climate change. Glaciers are melting due to temperature rise and we need to spread the message about the causes of glaciers melting and who is responsible," he said.

The documentary was a series of 13 days of the trek by women from different walks of life to Kalapatthar, near the Everest Base Camp, to spread the message of climate change and global warming coinciding with International Women's Day on March 8, 2022.

The walk was to advocate for climate change and draw wider attention for its impacts, especially on the lives of women.

Speaking about the trek, Minister Shrestha said that women leading the trek to spread the message of climate change was a good initiative and the nation should acknowledge it.

The team also made a Kalapatthar declaration for the best efforts to define the role of women in the climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts and for sustainable management of the human health system.

Again, a team of women is planning to conduct such a campaign to Tsho Rolpa soon to spread the message of climate at the national and international levels. 

Supreme Court Justice Sapana Pradhan Malla, one of the participants of the trek, said that the time has come for a country to put a strong voice in the world forum for climate justice and fight a legal battle to this effect.

Minister for declaring Pokhara tourism capital

Meanwhile, Minister Shrestha has expressed his commitment to declare Pokhara the nation’s tourism capital.

At a programme organised at his ministry to hand over a new tourist bus park constructed there to the Pokhara Metropolitan City, Minister Shrestha said that the government had prioritised tourism infrastructure and pledged to get Pokhara declared Nepal’s tourist capital soon. 

Shrestha handed over the bus park to Pokhara’s Mayor Dhan Raj Acharya on Wednesday.

The park, constructed near the Rastra Bank Chowk in the tourist city of Pokhara, was built by the Department of Tourism at a cost of Rs. 84.5 million. It covers an area of 7,900 square metres and can accommodate 40 buses, 10 microbuses and 20 taxis.