By Our Correspondent
Nepalgunj, Mar. 12: A ‘Western Travel Mart’ has been organised for the first time in Nepalgunj to promote the tourism destinations of western Nepal and attract Indian tourists.
Chief of local Raute community Surya Narayan Shahi inaugurated the mart, which has more than 150 tourism entrepreneurs from India and Nepal participating, on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, he said that Nepal was very beautiful but we had not been able to show our beauty to the world.

Dr. Dhananjay Regmi, chief executive officer of the Nepal Tourism Board, expressed confidence that the number of Indians arriving in western Nepal would increase as many Indian businesses and journalists were participating in the mart.

More than 50 tourism entrepreneurs from India have come to the city to visit and promote the major destinations of western Nepal in their country as a part of the mart.
The entrepreneurs, who have come from Mumbai, Gujarat, Punjab, Lucknow, Kanpur, Delhi, Jaipur and other places of India, will be taken to the Banke National Park, Bardiya National Park, Rara National Park and Shey Phoksundo National Park and they will also be taken for rafting in the Karnali and a visit to the casinos in Nepalgunj, said Krishna Prasad Shrestha, coordinator of the Tourism Promotion Forum Banke.

Achyut Guragain, president of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), and Binayak Shah, vice president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), said that the Indian tourists were vital for the development of tourism in Nepal and said that the mart had been specially organised for them.

Indian tourism entrepreneur Anuj Singh said that Nepal would take a big leap if Nepal-India relations were further strengthened by adding the tourism dimension.
Meanwhile, as informed by NATTA’s Banke chapter, an interaction was held with the Indian businessmen on Friday to discuss ways to bring tourists from India.
The mart will run for three days and will feature stalls from all seven provinces of the country.