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FEATURE The Best Way to Help Nepal Recover From the Quake? Go There on Vacation “We are pleased to inform you that Nepal is now safe to visit,” reads an email from Adventure Mountain Explore Treks & Expedition (AME treks) sent out on Wednesday. “If you have already booked your holiday or you are planning to, we welcome you with an open heart.” The message from the Kathmandu-based mountaineering and sightseeing organizers represents a larger plea from the small Himalayan nation, as it continues to pick itself up from the devastating April 25 earthquake that claimed over 7,000 lives thus far. “Nepal is very safe to travel,” said AME executive director Tika Regmi. “Life is back to normal.” The 7.9-magnitude quake laid waste to large swaths of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu (including several iconic heritage sites) and entire villages across the countryside have been flattened, but companies and officials alike insist visiting the country is now more important than ever. The quake came during Nepal’s summer trekking season, and its aftermath and gradual recovery will undoubtedly affect this year’s peak autumn trekking expeditions beginning in September — bookings for which Regmi says are already starting to be canceled. Despite Nepal’s peerless natural beauty — boasting eight of the 10 highest mountains in the world — and ancient temples and palaces, this landlocked nation of 30 million only receives around 600,000 visitors a year, making tourism a key potential avenue for growth. Ganga Sagar Pant, CEO of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN), says there is no reason for Nepal’s tourism — currently contributing around 10 percent of GDP and jobs — to grind to a halt. “The world must go on,” he said. “The tourism products are still there — mountains, flora and fauna, jungles, trails.” Pant says TAAN is planning “assessment” expeditions to popular trekking sites like the Mount Everest circuit, the Annapurna region (which includes the 10th highest mountain in the world) and the Langtang National Park in the weeks to come, so a more concrete picture of the earthquake’s impact can be formed. Nepal’s government is also in the process of collecting data on loss of infrastructure and damage to heritage sites and popular trekking paths. “But there are many other areas which could be new tourism products and destinations, so our focus is on that as well,” says Mohan Krishna Sapkota, spokesperson for Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation. “Our priority is to bring more tourists and provide them quality, safety, hospitality and other services to their satisfaction,” he says, expressing a desire to re-establish Nepal as a “safe, unique and attractive tourist destination.” All three men — Regmi, Pant and Sapkota — insist that Nepal remains safe and urge people to come visit. The benefits are especially positive if visitors reside in home stays and frequent independent restaurants and shops. “People from around the world are willing to help in this situation,” says Pant. “One important and sustainable way to do that is to help tourism here flourish again.” (Time Magazine)
FEATURE Nepal Reopens Heritage Sites Despite UN Concerns The Nepal government declared several damaged heritage sites open to the public on Monday, in a bid to recover tourism revenues in the region hit by an earthquake, but United Nations officials worried that the buildings were not entirely ready. Nepal’s many temples and palaces had been a significant tourist draw for the impoverished country, and many were all but destroyed in the April 25 earthquake, which killed more than 8,700 people. “World Heritage sites, the treasures of the Nepalese economy, should not remain closed forever,” said Nepal’s tourism secretary, Suresh Man Shrestha, who added that he was hoping to garner visitors for “earthquake disaster education tourism.” More than 700 monuments were damaged in the quake, and Mr. Shrestha said the costs of reconstruction would run into the tens of millions of dollars. The reopened monuments include the Durbar Square complexes in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan, as well as Swayambhunath, a shrine on top of a hill at the northwestern edge of Kathmandu. Christian Manhart, the head of UNESCO’s Nepal office in Kathmandu, said Monday that the organization had urged the government to delay the reopening of the sites, as he believed that two of them were still either unsafe or vulnerable to theft because the rubble from the earthquake was not yet cleared. “At Kathmandu Durbar Square there is the huge palace museum — one very big building which is totally shaky,” he said. “The walls are disconnected from one another so this big wall can fall down at any moment.” The country’s Tourism Department said Monday that the government would instate safety measures, including providing helmets to visitors and security at the monuments, and that the museum building at Kathmandu’s Durbar Square would remain closed. However, Mr. Manhart said that even allowing visitors close to it could be dangerous. Swayambhunath, the hilltop shrine, was both unsafe and vulnerable to looting because uncleared rubble remains, he said. Mr. Manhart said he had written the director general of Nepal’s Archaeology Department, Bhesh Narayan Dahal, two weeks ago to urge him to delay the reopening. “Now, Nepal is safe,” said Kripasur Sherpa, Nepal’s minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation, in televised comments at the reopening of the Durbar Square in Bhaktapur on Monday. “They say that there is some pressure to reopen those sites so they can request entrance fee, which is badly needed for the rehabilitation of the monuments,” Mr. Manhart said of the letter he received in response. (The New York Times)
Page 3 and 4: Foreword We knew but yet we chose t
Page 5 and 6: COME SEPTEMBER: WE ARE READY TO WEL
Page 7 and 8: FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH “It is v
Page 10 and 11: INTERVIEW Andrew Jones is a vice-ch
Page 14 and 15: Tourism envisions rebound plan afte
Page 16 and 17: What can tourists do to help - not
Page 18 and 19: Quake-hit Nepal seeks experts’ ad
Page 20: Nepal is ready to welcome tourists:
Page 23 and 24: ABOUT TREKKING ROUTES EVEREST BASE
Page 25 and 26: Travel Tips/Travel Guide if traveli
Page 27 and 28: Permits and Fees [Tour, trekking an
Page 29: of noodle soups, potatoes and toast

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