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| Nepal, India forming JWG to oversee implementation of tourism agreements |
JWG will oversee implementation of agreements related to tourism sector included in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the two counties signed on the sidelines of the 18th SAARC Summit held in Kathmandu in November.
The first meeting of JWG is scheduled to be held in New Delhi from February 19 and 20.
Speaking at a program organized jointly by the Embassy of India in Kathmandu and Nepal India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NICCI) to discuss on bilateral tourism cooperation, Suresh Man Shrestha, secretary of MoCTCA, said the joint working group will work to strengthen tourism relations between two countries and focus on implementation of agreements included in the MoU.
Indian ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae said that India was ready to work with Nepal to develop concrete programs for the tourism sector. “It will be beneficial for both the countries if we can link the Buddhist Circuit (Lumbini-Boddgaya-Sarnath-Kushinagar) for tourists visiting Nepal and India. The JWG should facilitate travel agencies to make a joint package for this,” Rae said, adding that Nepali travel agencies also need to prepare attractive packages for Indian tourists under Leave Travel Concession (LTC) scheme.
According to NICCI, JWG will work to simplify procedures and policies for third party payment collections as well as transfers between India and Nepal and create a Nepal-India Tourism Forum among inter-government representatives, airlines and the private sector of the tourism industry to meet annually for discussing bilateral tourism issues.
JWG will also coordinate to hold B2B mart for international travel operators to jointly promote tourism attractions in both the countries and explore the possibility of launching joint promotional campaigns in the international market.
Shreejana Rana, tourism convener of NICCI, said that Nepal has proposed to increase bus service between different cities of Nepal and India, implement LTC scheme effectively, increase air connectivity between the two countries, reduce airfare between the two countries. Similarly, Nepal will request India to allow Indian airlines pay ground handling charges in Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in India currency instead of US dollar.
“We will also request both the governments to increase cash withdrawal limit on credit and debit cards for Nepali and Indian tourists and allow payments in foreign currency in Nepal and Bhutan through Indian credit and debit cards,” said Rana.
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