NATIONAL 6 -(Spotlight Weekly)]

FULBARI RESORT
The Bumpy Road Connection

An example of how big investment in tourism industry can be rocked by poor infrastructure

By NAVIN SINGH KHADKA in Pokhara

It has everything to add to its magnificence. Far from the madding crowd, it overlooks the gorge of Seti River while on the background there are mountain ranges including the famous Machhapuchhre (Fish Tail).

Besides its ideal location, it boasts of many things within itself that stand as excellence. Sprawled in the area of above 100 acres of terraced plateau, it has 165 suites and rooms with individual balconies. Not to talk about its other facilities, it also boasts of a nine-hole Executive Golf Course.

So no wonder why Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation declared this luxury property as the first five-star deluxe resort in Nepal. With that certification, the Fulbari Resort has also become the first five star hotel outside the Capital Valley.

Fulbari resort : A new attraction

From the time of entering its premises till reaching its lobby gate, visitors hardly can keep themselves from appreciating this man-made beauty and its natural surroundings.

Yet, even before any visitor to Fulbari Resort could do that, they have no choice but to undergo an undesirable experience. Guess what? The bumpy, jerky and dusty drive from the main road to the hotel.

Of course, the resort is one of the farthest hotels from the heart of Pokhara. But more than that is the condition of the road. The narrow lane immediately after the main road has many turnings making the drive anything but comfortable.

More importantly, what disappoints the visitors are the too many potholes on the road some segments of which have simply crumbled away. If you are in a jeep or a heavy vehicle, you are a bit lucky. Those who are driving cars are in for the worst kind of trouble.

Major part of the road is left graveled adding "adventure" to the already bumpy ride. By the time the road is about to reach the hotel entry, there are times when the visitors almost lose visibility. This happens especially when there are other vehicles coming or going on the same road. Reason? The heavy dust blown by the plying vehicles.

And that is what most of the time visitors criticize about the accessibility to Fulbari.

And this clearly hints at one thing: the imbalance between the private investment and the government's existing infrastructure. The first five star hotel outside Kathmandu was constructed with the spending of more than 2 billion Rupees. Even though its construction works began more than two years ago, it still does not have a good tarred road connected with the main road of Pokhara.

Drivers ferrying clients to and from the Fulbari hotel claim that they could reach the hotel from the Pokhara Airport within 10 to 15 minutes if only the road allowed a smooth drive. "But since it is full of bumps and turnings, we, at least take 20 to 25 minutes."

So, why does one of the biggest tourism property is not connected with proper infrastructure? "We have been in touch with the officialdom," says Bruce Moore, General Manager of Fulbari Resort. "The Municipality had assured us that it would do something about the road before the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) conference."

The 12th PATA Eco-Tourism Conference and Travel Mart took place in the Fulbari Resort Pokhara from 28 to 31 January (last month). More than 260 delegates had gathered in this popular tourist hub in western Nepal to take part in the meet.

Which means many important tourism professionals did experience the road that leads to Fubari Resort. The journey discomfort aside, the poor condition of the road must have sent wrong signals to the would-be investors in the tourism field.

At a time when more and more foreigners have invested in hotel business in the country, the road to Fulbari could discourage the potential investors giving them the feeling that the government does not care for building the necessary infrastructure.

What does the government have to say about it? "We have been trying to reach into an understanding with the Fulbari Resort," says Krishna Bahadur Thapa, Mayor of Pokahara Municipality. "If the hotel is willing to spend some money for the road construction, we can also allocate some budget. But the question is how much will Phulbari pour in?"

According to Thapa, his office had borne 40 percent of the construction of the road to Shangrilla Village (one of the top tourist-hotels in Pokhara) while the hotel spent the rest.

Pokhara Municipality, says Thapa, is in no position to chip in big amount of money for other projects since it already has to spend around 75 percent of its 160 million Rupees budget for other infrastructure projects like sewage, roads, landfill site, among others.

The Asian Development Bank has been financially assisting the government to build the tourism infrastructure in Pokhara.

SOALTEE CHALLENGE TROPHY
Golf Tournament
Soaltee Hotel Limited is to organize annual golf tournament in Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC)

By SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Soaltee Hotel Limited, the owning company of Soaltee Crowne Plaza, is recognized for promoting sports in the country. As a part of its annual programs, the hotel is organizing Soaltee Challenge Golf Trophy on 11 and 12 February, 2000 at Royal Nepal Golf Club (RNGC).

The annual golf event organized by the hotel is credited for popularizing the game in the country.

With the organizational support from Soaltee Hotel Limited, the fixture considered to be one of the most coveted tournaments in the annual golfing calendar of the RNGC has seen some exciting golfing action over the years.

Played in stroke play format, the tournament will help to uplift the standard of the golf game in Nepal." We have been promoting the golf tournament for the last many years," said Prabhakar SJB Rana, Chairman of Soaltee Hotel Limited at a press conference.

Owing to the tremendous response from the golfers of the club and hence with the difficulties in giving required time slots for tee off to finish the tournament within one day, the tournament committee has moved away slightly from the established one day format this year to introduce an interesting two day format in order to make room for maximum numbers of golfing enthusiasts.

"It gives us a great pleasure to continue this support to the RNGC by organizing this event and we hope all our friends in golfing fraternity will enjoy the tournament," said Bijaya Bahadur Shrestha, Director of Soaltee Hotel Limited and the coordinator for the tournament.

This year marks the 13th tournament held at the club with the organizational support from Soaltee Hotel Limited.

Seeking More Tourists
Nepal's participation in the international tourism fair in Germany draws impressive reaction

By A CORRESPONDENT

More than a hundred thousand visitors and one thousand exhibitors visited the Nepal Stand at the CMT 2000 International Tourism Fair held in Stuttgart, Germany from January 15 till 23.

Nepalese participants, including the business delegation led by B.K. Shrestha, President of Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NGCCI), were pleased with the outcome of the exhibition as they were able to book nearly 2500 clients to visit the country in the year 2000. Likewise, four German exhibitors at the fair have confirmed bookings of approximately 7000 visitors to Nepal.

Participants at Nepal Stand : Encouraging Response

CMT International Tourism Fair is one of the premier annual tourism fairs in Germany and Europe. NGCCI has been coordinating Nepal's participation at the fair since 1994. This year's participation was assisted by Nepal Tourism Board, GTZ's Private Sector Promotion Project, German Nepal Friendship Association and Royal Nepalese Consulate in Stuttgart.

About 1360 exhibitors from 106 different countries had participated in the 9-day-long exhibition this year. The CMT 2000 exhibition was visited by 270,000 people from all over southern Germany who came to find about the holiday destinations the world over.

One of the major attractions of Nepal Stand was its cultural program. The cultural group led by renowned choreographer Basant Shrestha comprising of Shri Krishna Shrestha, Navin KC, Sharanga Shrestha, Luna Shrestha, Sita Gurung and two monks Tenzin Nima Lama and Sanggi Tsowang Lama performed traditional Nepalese cultural programs in various German cities as well as 14 programs at the fair ground. The performances were carried live on Radio 7, Radio Antenna and SWR television.

During a press conference and Nepal Travel Mart organized by Royal Nepalese Consul in Stuttgart, Royal Nepalese Ambassador Balaram Singh Malla highlighted the importance of tourism to Nepalese economy.

Binayak Shah, chief executive of NGCCI, presented a paper on "Sports in the Himalayas" emphasizing the potential of marketing Nepal as sports destination.