Nepal urges governments to lift travel warnings
Nepal is urging governments around the world to lift travel warnings to the quake hit country as it looks to attract much needed tourism income.
Tourism minister Kripasur Sherpa said his department had asked countries to relax travel advisories as most parts of the country are safe for travel.
“Only about 15% of Nepal has been affected by the earthquake while the rest is fine,” he said.
“There are many beautiful places and tourists attractions in Nepal which are safe even as the country suffered a major natural disaster in April.”
The foreign offices of the US, UK, Switzerland, New Zealand and Italy have already removed travel advisories but several European nations are still advising against travel to Nepal, he said.
Sherpa said he has asked ambassadors from India and China to communicate with their respective governments that travel is safe and should be encouraged.
The two countries are key tourism markets and make up about 30% of the inbound market.
Due to the April 25 earthquake, which killed thousands of people, tourism is expected to plunge by 40% this year.
In 2014 the country received 800,000 tourists.
In June the Nepal government announced the reopening of many UNESCO world heritage sites in the Kathmandu area.
The Nepal Chapter of the Pacific Asia Travel Association is holding a travel bloggers’ conference in Kathmandu in September to help to raise awareness in the media.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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