NEPAL REVITALIZES TOURISM AT WTM 2021, NTB AWARDED FOR BEST PANDEMIC RESPONSE BY WANDERLUST, UKWednesday, November 3rd, 2021

Nepal participated in the World Travel Mart (WTM) 2021 in London, United Kingdom, from Nov. 1-3. The delegation was led by the Hon’ble Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) Prem Bahadur Ale, along with Secretary of MoCTCA Mr. Yadav Prasad Koirala, and Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) Dr. Dhananjay Regmi.
During the course of the event, NTB was awarded the Wanderlust Gold Award – Best Response to the Pandemic (Tourist Board) Award, for one of the most prompt and efficient responses to COVID-19 pandemic at the Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards in Kensington Palace on Nov. 2. Hon’ble Tourism Minister received the award on behalf of Nepal.
At the program, Nepal received immense accolades from the international audience for the dedication and diligence to ensure the safety of tourists during the sudden onset of the pandemic in early 2020.

“Nepal’s widespread strategy involved the Government, local tourism groups, communities, private companies and NGO support,” the leading travel magazine of UK wrote on their website. According to the Wanderlust, judges said: “Their lobbying work on sustainability and tourism development awakened the government to review their monetary policy to support the continuance of their activities which was amazing”, and also admired their “out of the box thinking” when it came to their “Stranded in Nepal” website.
Crisis Communication Unit of NTB had worked actively to rescue and evacuate stranded travelers across the country in coordination with the Government, private sector and Diplomatic Missions of Nepal, in the early stages of COVID-19 and lockdown in March 2020.

During the travel mart, NTB CEO Dr. Regmi met with travel leaders from different parts of the world and also spoke to global media houses like CNN, BBC, Lonely Planet, regarding Nepal’s tourism in the present context and the steps being taken by the Government of Nepal ascertain the health and safety of international travelers in the “new normal”. CEO Dr. Regmi also participated in the WTM China Forum organized as one of the 6 panelists and deliberated about the efforts taken by Nepal to open up to travelers from all parts of the world.

After a gap of almost two years, WTM 2021 was a grand success with representatives from over 150 countries. One of the biggest travel fairs in the world, WTM is a unique networking platform that brings global destinations, travel industry and professionals together where they connect to conduct business together. This year the event was organized in a hybrid mode, with Nov. 1-3 event in person at the venue at ExCel, Docklands, followed by Nov. 8-9 as virtual. Compared to previous years when there were around 35 participants, this year Nepal participated with six companies from the private sector. The last WTM was held in November 2019 just before the global pandemic of COVID-19.

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