Nepal selected as country partner in Indian trade fair

Kathmandu, Oct. 31 (RSS): Nepal has been selected as country partner for the 14th Industrial India Trade Fair to be held in Calcutta, India from Dec 22, 2000 to Jan 1, 2001.

According to the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Nepal which has been participating in the fair for the past four years will be provided stalls free of cost this year.

There will be more than 40 stalls for Nepalese cultural programme, Nepali food festival and tourism promotion at the fair.

China, Thailand, Burma and Bangladesh are also participating in the fair to be jointly organised by West Bengal and the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Calcutta.

Kerosene coupon distribution starts

Kathmandu, Oct. 31 (RSS): The coupons designed for distribution of kerosene to general public at a concessional rate will reach all the village development committees of Lamjung district in five days, says chief district officer Govinda Khanal.

There are 15,178 families at the Constituency No. 1 and 17,043 families at the Constituency No. 2 in Lamjung district.

Arrangements are also underway for making kerosene available at concessional rate to those residing in rented rooms.

Earlier, RSS had reported from Lamjung distribution of kerosene coupons started at Beshisahar, the Lamjung district headquarters recently, in accordance with His Majesty's government's decision to provide kerosene to consumer at a concessional rate.

According to Beshisahar VDC chairman Guman Singh Aryal, the coupons will be distributed to the families listed in the electoral rolls.

The district administration is going to provide coupons to only 1236 families for the time being at Beshisahar.

There is no arrangement yet for the ditribution of the coupons to students or other living on rented houses and inmates of prison.

Similarly in Nuwakot, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) had provided coupons to Nuwalot district administration office for distribution of subsidised kerosene to the people before Dipawali but the coupons are still to reach Bidur Municipality and the 61 VDCs of the district.

Letters in this regard were sent through the DDC to all the VDCs but the concerned municipality and VDC secretaries have not turned up to receive the kerosene coupons, assistant CDO Rammani Pokharel said.

The delay in distribution of kerosene coupons was caused as executive officer of the municipality Dhruva Kumar Basnet had gone home for Bada Dashain and not joined office, according to Bidur Municipality deputy mayor Maniklal Shrestha.

In Inaruwa, Sunsari district administration here has started necessary arrangement for distribution of kerosene in the wake of what is described as artificial kerosene shortage created by profiteers.

According to the district administration, the municipality and VDCs have been directed to distribute five litre kerosene per family on the exiting coupns at Rs 15.50 per litre as it would take some time to make systematic arrangement for the distribution of coupons for the same.

Though open market price of coupons is fixed at Rs 26 per litre, it cost ranged from Rs 30 to Rs 40 per litre in the open market here.

In Itahari, kerosene coupons distribution has started in Sunsari district at the initiative of the Nepal Oil Corporation Sunsari branch office in view of the difficulties being faced by the general public due to the price rise in petroleum products announced recently by the government.

According to the district administration office, the corporation despatched a total of 93,000 coupons for distribution to 88,667 households in the three municipalities and 49 VDCs in the district.

The coupons have already been forwarded to all the VDCs and municipalities, it s learnt.

Meanwhile in Kapilvastu, an all party meeting convened by the district administration office, Kapilvastu at Taulihawa recently has decided to distribute coupon cards in a bid to make kerosene subsidised by the government available to people of rural areas in a smooth manner.

The coupons received from Nepal Oil Corporation for the convenience of the people have already been handed over to Kapilvastu DDC, administrative officer Narayan Bahadur Kunwar said.

The meeting held under the chairmanship of CDO Sitaram Khanal has also specified the kerosene distribution centres located at different places across the district.

Kapilvastu district has received 61,000 coupons from the Nepal Oil Corporation.

Representatives from the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, RPP, Nepal Sadbhawana Party and CPN-ML attended the meeting.

NTB in Tour Salon 2000

BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Oct 31: Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) participated in TOUR SALON 2000--International Exhibition of Tourism held in Poznan, Poland from October 19--22, 2000. TOUR SALON, held under the auspices of the Polish Tourism Organisation, is the largest of all fair events in Poland organised by the Poznan International Fair this year, it is started in NTB press release. Nepal's participation in the fair was aimed at promoting Nepal's tourism image in the emerging potential outbound market of Poland, the press release stated.

The fair was participated by a total of 607 exhibitors--375 Polish and 232 foreign--in an area of 7672 sq. m. Nepal was among the 21 exhibitors who participated in the fair with their official national presentation.The first two days of the fair were open to travel trade visitors only and last two days for the general public, according to NTB press release.

Apart from inbound and outbound tourism promotion, the exhibition also featured infrastructure, such as hotels, resorts, health spas, etc. This combination of events in the fair reflects the vision of the organisers, who wish to present in Poznan a comprehensive offer of the 'leisure time fair', involving not only tourism as such, but also sports and tourism equipment. The event was attended by agencies for promotion of tourism, chambers of tourism, carriers and insurance companies. The scope of the fair also includes sports and tourism equipment, tourism networks and software, along with tourism publications (maps, travel guides, plans etc.) Given these features of the fair it was a good opportunity for promoting Nepalese tourism in general as well as making good business contacts among the tourism entrepreneurs of Nepal, Poland and also other countries.

For Nepal, Polish outbound tourism market promises a dynamic potential in the light of Poland's changed socio-political system and as a result of this the growing affluence of the Polish people. The number of Polish tourists visiting Nepal was 1672 for the year 1998. In 1999 alone the Poles made 55 millions trips abroad (this is the number of tourist trips, not the number of tourists)--10.8 per cent more than the previous year. The motivation for most of the Polish tourists is leisure and sightseeing (45.5 per cent). An average Polish tourist stays seven nights abroad (usually in hotels). There is a strong growing tendency to use charter planes for trips abroad (500,000 a year). The majority of travellers abroad are young people with secondary or higher education but the number of middle aged tourists is on rise-- currently about 38 per cent. According to the predictions by the office of tourism, during the summer season the poles will likely to set out in search of sunshines to the Mediterranean region and far off exotic destinations like Nepal. After growing five-fold during the 1989-1998 decade, the tendency for Poles to travel abroad will continue to grow systematically and steadily.

According to NTB, Nepal stand attracted quite a lot of trade pfoessionals as well as general public. The visitors were distributed various publicity materials, such as guide books, booklets, borchures, maps etc. and were provided comprehensive information on organising tours to Nepal and Nepalese product and potentials. Polish tourists, especially those who are looking for some exotic far away destinations for adventure activities like mountaineering and trekking took especial interest on Nepal stand.

Kumar Raj Kharel - Officer, Marketing & Promotion represented the Nepal Tourism Board in the fair. During the fair Kharel held several interactions with the Nepal selling Polish travel agents, Travel Journalists, TV Journalists and photographers regarding the prospects of promoting Nepal in Poland. A Press release about Nepal's participation as a premier tourist destination for press coverage on Nepal was also distributed to the local press, it is learnt.