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Declare tourism a peace zone
Sun, July 13, 2008, 1:30 pm
Declare tourism a peace zone
Govinda Pahari has been selected as a new president of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Pokhara chapter from the 14th convention of this organization. Following his selection, he chitchats with us to reveal his future plans:
You have been selected as a new president of HAN Pokhara, could you tell us about your future plans?
First of all I will try to make our organization a stronger one and some promotional tasks also will be conducted. Pokhara is a gateway of many famous trekking destinations of Nepal but unfortunately some of the trails to those destinations are in the verge of collapse so, we will try to explore and develop new trekking destinations around the Pokhara Region.
How will you coordinate with other tourism organizations like TAAN, NATTA and REBAN?
I will coordinate with them through Pokhara Tourism Council (PTC) because PTC is an umbrella organization of most of the tourism related organizations in Pokhara. Moreover, I will do my job judging the political scenario of Nepal and the problems facing tourism workers will also be considered.
There are so many hotels and restaurants running in the outskirt of Pokhara. The tourism of Pokhara is mostly based on the Annapurna Region. So how would you work with the tourism entrepreneurs from there?
You raised an important issue that the Annapurna Region is not only a famous trekking destination but also a lifeline of tourism of Pokhara. So I will go with a concept that Pokhara is a regional hub of tourism and the surrounding villages are the sub-hubs. I think this concept will work and the length of stay of visitors also would be lengthened.
Because of the decade long political conflict, Nepali tourism was badly thrashed so what would you do to uplift this industry?
Government once declared Nepali tourism as a sick industry but provided some relief funds only for some star hotels. The small and low class hotels didn't get any such facilities from the government site. In one hand tourism was declared as a sick industry and on the other hand some hotels were blacklisted. So it was the double standard of the government. However HAN will try to pick such hotels out of the blacklist where the Fulbari Resort and Spa has also been listed.
Are you thinking any thing else that you will do in your tenure?
Of course there are some more tasks that should be done. I will go with some environmental tasks that will help to make Pokhara a real touristy region. Security is another important concern so I will make effort towards the security of tourists as well as tourism sectors. Lastly, I would like to request the government to declare tourism a peace zone.
By Rup Narayan Dhakal
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