Nepal has begun a campaign to attract gay tourists.
Gay honeymooners are being invited to take a trek through the Himalayas, and there are also plans to host the world’s highest same-sex weddings at Everest base camp.
Travel analysts say Nepal wants a slice of the multi-billion dollar gay tourist market to help pull it out of poverty. Attitudes in the conservative Hindu nation have changed radically: five years ago, police were beating gays and transsexuals in the street. Now it has an openly homosexual parliamentarian and appears to have enshrined gay rights in a new constitution.
Tourism is one of the main drivers of Nepal’s economy – it was worth about $350 million (£230 million) last year. Government officials are determined to double tourism to one million visitors next year.
It’s reckoned that gay tourists will be far more lucrative than the backpackers who stay in cheap hotels and travel on shoestring budgets. “They do have a lot of income … they are high-spending consumers,” said Aditya Baral, spokesman for the Nepal Tourism Board.
Nepal would have a huge advantage in this field because its neighbours in South Asia are not seen as gay-friendly destinations.
by Andy Moreton
Nepal is one of the most fascinating countries on earth and Luxique can book you a hotel to match – Dwarika’s in Kathmandu. One recent guest described it as ‘a heaven of comfort, peace and elegance’
Last month, I reported that the Maldives cabinet had held a meeting under water to highlight the dangers of global warming.
Clearly, this kind of green protest is beginning to catch on, because I see now that ministers in Nepal are to hold a meeting on Mount Everest later this month.
The entire cabinet will travel to a base camp at an altitude of 17,585 feet to highlight the impact of global warming on the Himalayas ahead of December’s climate change talks in Copenhagen.
The Forest Minister, Deepak Bohora, said the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas was a serious concern. About 1.3 billion people depend on the water that flows down from the Himalayan glaciers, which experts say are melting at an alarming rate, threatening to bring floods and later drought to the region.
“Climate change has hit the Himalayas in general and Nepal in particular,” said Mr Bohora. “Its effects are being manifested in different forms, from the rapid increase in the size of the glacial lakes to erratic monsoon patterns and unprecedented forest fires.”
He said the visit would be an opportunity for ministers to gain first-hand information about the effects of climate change on the vast mountain range.
by Andy Moreton
Nepal is one of the most fascinating countries on earth and Luxique can book you a place at a hotel to match – Dwarika’s in Kathmandu. Recent guests described it as ‘a wonderful haven’ and ‘a magnificent oasis’.
The authorities in Nepal have come up with a novel idea to combat rampant bribe-taking at the country’s international airport in Kathmandu.
They haven’t increased CCTV or begun random searches – they’ve given staff trousers (US: pants) with no pockets.
“We sent a team to observe the growing complaints about the behaviour of airport authorities and workers towards travellers and we discovered that the reports were true,” said Ishwori Prasad Paudyal, spokesman for the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).
He said CIAA investigators had observed theft as well as bribe-taking and it was felt that the pocketless trouser would, as he put it, ‘curb the irregularities’.
The move came a day after Nepal’s new Prime Minister, Madhav Mumar Nepal, had expressed fears that corruption was tarnishing the reputation of the Tribhuvan International Airport.
The landlocked Himalayan nation is one of the poorest in the world and its tourism industry is important, employing around 300,000 people. There were more than 500,000 foreign visitors in 2008 and Nepal has set an ambitious goal of attracting a million tourists a year by 2011.
by Andy Moreton
The Lonely Planet guide describes Nepal in this way:
“Draped along the greatest heights of the Himalaya, Nepal is where the ice-cold of the mountains meets the steamy heat of the Indian plains. It’s a land of yaks and yetis, stupas and Sherpas and some of the best trekking on earth.”
And when you want to put your feet up and relax after the trekking experience, try the luxury Dwarika Hotel in Kathmandu, described by recent guests as ‘unique’, ‘special’, and ‘awesome’. It’s bookable through Luxique at the best rates.
