Pokhara Tourism Council hands memo to PM

Gandaki, March 17: The Pokhara Tourism Council (PTC) has submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, calling for, among others, starting international flights from Pokhara International Airport.

A delegation led by PTC Chairperson Pom Narayan Shrestha met with the Prime Minister in Pokhara today and handed over the memorandum to him.

PTC has called attention of the government, citing that the major roadways connecting Pokhara were in dire condition and the international flights from Pokhara International Airport were not regular so far. The Council has called for starting international flights to and from Pokhara at the earliest.

The memorandum states that the tourism entrepreneurs had to face crisis one after the other since some years. Stating that the investment is at risk due to the sluggishness in the economy and employment is also declining, PTC, through the memorandum, called for providing motivation and time to the tourism entrepreneurs to pay back the loan.

The Council also demanded to restructuring of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and ensuring the representation of Pokhara on the NTB Executive Board Member that is currently lying vacant.

The Council has urged the government to start the international flights from Pokhara International Airport initially from the Nepal Airlines itself and then encouraging other airlines as well providing them incentive packages.

The PTC also mentioned in the memo that the prohibition on individual paragliding has demoralized the paragliding adventure sports players as they cannot conduct practice paragliding flights.
It may be recalled here that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) had banned individual paragliding after a paragliding accident in course of the Ninth National Paragliding Competition last year.