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| Kathmandu, Wednesday October 09, 2002 Ashwin 23, 2059. |
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Ilam, Barahakshetra to be
promoted as new tourist spots
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Oct 8:With an aim to develop
alternative tourism destinations, the government, under its much-touted Destination Nepal
Campaign (DNC), is planning to promote Ilam as a new hub destination and Barahachhetra as
a religious tourism destination.
According to government officials, the main
committee of the DNC has endorsed the plan to develop both these places as alternative
tourism destinations. "While Ilam can provide excitement to pleasure seekers,
Barahachhetra can be an attraction for religious tourists," the official added.
While the government has already formulated
basic guidelines to develop Barahachhetra, under its Master Plan, consultations are going
on with the Ilam stakeholders to announce new programmes to promote the whole district,
informed Subas Nirola, Director at the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).
He further said that an interaction programme
with local stakeholders would be organised soon, to decide the programmes that would be
launched to promote Ilam. "Certain festival days could be some of the options,"
he added.
While the prime identity of Ilam is its famous
tea estates, it is also famous for the dazzling sunrise and sunset views. During the
winter season many people throng to Sri Antudanda for the breath-taking sunrise view.
"Ilam can be developed as a tourism
hub", says Nirola "as the basic infrastructure like transportation already
exists, it will be much easier to develop the place as a genuine tourist spot."
Though the government has allotted Rs 500,000 to promote Ilam, from the Rs 280 million DNC
campaign fund, the sum is yet to be released.
Ilam is also famous for several religious and
historically important sites. While Maipokhari and Gajurmukhi are some important religious
sites of Ilam, the district falls along the route the famous Pathivara Devi’s temple,
situated inside Taplejung district.
The beautiful Buddha Gufa, Hanspokhari and
Fikkal are the other scenic attractions. Chulachuli region and Manmulang provide panoramic
views of nature. The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), with the co-ordination of Ilam
Municipality had recently published more than 10 different types of postcards with the
exotic scenes of the district.
Similarly, the Barahachhetra, situated at
north-western part of the Sunsari district is famous among the Hindus in Nepal as well as
in India. The government has already begun construction to develop it as a great
Barahachhetra region.
Considering that statistics reveal that more
than 40 per cent of tourists coming to Nepal are repeating visitors, the exploration of
new destinations are essential, and this effort would certainly boost the tourism
industry, say tourism experts.
Even though the NTB has identified more than
1100 tourist spots in the country, more than three-fourth of them are yet to make their
entry in the Nepali tourist map. The promotion of Ilam is definitely a most welcome step,
they feel, but they are apprehensive about the poor budget allocations for the promotion.
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