National 6 (Spotlight Weekly)

New Destination

As the Gulf War slows tourist arrivals from the West, the new flights to Kuala Lumpur are expected to tap the East Asian market

By A CORRESPONDENT

With the addition of two flights each by Royal Nepal Airlines and Qatar Airways to Kuala Lumpur, Nepal's tourism sector has taken another sigh of relief. The two carriers have scheduled four flights a week from Kathmandu to the Malaysian capital.

Following the withdrawal of flights by Singapore Airlines and RNAC, Thai Airways remained the only airline connecting Kathmandu with the East Asian tourism market. Although RNAC continued to fly on the Kathmandu-Bangkok, Hong Kong-Kathmandu and Kathmandu-Shanghai-Osaka routes, it could not link sufficiently with other cities around the world.

RNAC plane : Exploring new markets

Qatar Airways, one of the world's fastest growing airlines, started its first non-stop flight on April 2, just two days after RNAC's aircraft landed at Kuala Lumpur Airport. RNAC will fly to Kathmandu, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur every Monday and Thursday.

Run by two Boeing 757 aircraft, RNAC will have to face more pressure after the addition of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur routes. Although RNAC started flying to Singapore many years ago, it abruptly stopped flights a few years ago.

Along with adding two flights from Kathmandu to Kuala Lumpur, Qatar Airways is putting in another two flights a week from Kathmandu to Doha from April. There will be two flights a day from Kathmandu to Doha, every Monday, Tuesday and Friday, and one flight a day every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. With more than 100,000 Nepalese working in Malaysia and the demand for Nepalese growing in the Gulf countries, two airlines will find enough passengers.

"The beginning of the new routes and additional two flights from Doha will bring more tourists to Nepal," said Gyan Amerasinghe, area manager-Nepal. "We will provide world-class service to our passengers." After the withdrawal of Singapore Airlines a year ago, tourists from Australia and New Zealand faced difficulty in visiting Nepal.

A fairly large number of Australian tourists visit Nepal every year. Before the Maoist insurgency started making international headlines, between 20,000 and 25,000 Australians came to Nepal each year. With the announcement of the cease-fire and hopes of a return to normalcy, Nepal is again on tourists' list of favorite destinations.

"The new service to Kuala Lumpur is just part of our commitment to increase air services to and from Nepal," said Akbar Al Baker chief executive of Qatar Airways. "People traveling to Malaysia can now enjoy our premium standards of customer service, and the latest in-flight entertainment and comfort."

Following the launch of the new flights by Qatar Airways, other international carriers are also said to be showing an interest to fly additional flights to Nepal. Although the Gulf War II stalled tourist reservations, the country can expect to see more and more tourists in the coming days. "We hope the Gulf War will end soon and the Nepalese tourism sector will rebound," said a tourism entrepreneur." Right now, Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs have no alternative to facing hardships."

"Qatar Airways' new service and additional flights will definitely bring more tourists in the country. The new flights will increase the air capacity of Nepal," said Joy Dewan, president of Nepal Association of Travel Agents and general Sales Agent of Qatar Airways.

Provided there is a clear return to peace and tranquility - the traditional strengths of Nepal's tourism industry - the kingdom would perhaps not need extra publicity.