<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/6372211a9c7e80680e0c029djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>All photos: KASHISH DAS SHRESTHA</figcaption></figure>In a landmark decision last week, the Supreme Court annulled the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/building-nijgad-come-what-may/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">government’s dubious plan to build an airport</a> by destroying Nijgad’s primary forest.The written verdict is still due, but the ruling has opened a path to plot a green runway on which inter-generational equity, and new economic opportunities can take flight in Madhes Province.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/aborted-landing-in-nijgad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aborted landing in Nijgad</a>, EditorialHere is the path forward:1. RelocationTangiya Basti spreads over 1,000-hectares in Nijgad’s old-growth forest where families were temporarily settled in 1974-75. Its residents now span four generations, and are still waiting for the government to resettle them. In this wait, the settlement had transitioned from subsistence farming to full-fledged commercial agriculture. Some of the young men from here have become <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/dead-end-of-the-korean-dream/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">migrant workers in Korea</a>. But the nearly 1,500 households, with a population of over 7,000, are still considered squatters on land that was going to be an airport.Residents felt the airport project was their ticket out, and now think the Supreme Court's decision means the government may not feel the need to finally relocate them.However, Tangiya Basti was settled 20 years before the first plan to locate the airport here was even made in 1995. The promise of resettlement was never tied to this, or any other project. Cancellation of the airport should therefore have no bearing on their resettlement. It would simply be the right thing to do, and in an election year it may even be a politically prudent one.https://youtu.be/E0kV65lvbYs2. Reforestation Once Tangiya Basti’s inhabitants are resettled, the land can be annexed back into the larger <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-save-nijgad-forest-to-receive-climate-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nijgad forest</a> that it was always a part of. This should be a planned undertaking,  allowing the government and its conservation partners to address issues like protection of the wildlife corridors, the need for watering holes and wetlands, as well as mounds for flood protection.Nepal has signed the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility, unlocking up to $45 million to support the expansion of carbon sinks by increasing forest cover. Turning Tangiya Basti back into forest may also give Nepal the chance to tap into that fund before it expires in 2025, while exploring similar financial benefits from other emission reduction programs.  3. ConstructionThere should then be a parallel program to design and build multiple <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/underpasses-to-reduce-roadkill-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wildlife crossings</a> over and under the East-West Highway that goes through Nijgad forest. A multi-year construction project of this kind would give the local economy a boost and reduce road kill.Habitat fragmentation has become one of the leading causes of wildlife deaths along Nepal’s highways, and includes endangered species we have worked so hard to protect.Bordering Parsa National Park and the Chure and Mahabharat Ranges, Nijgad is home to tigers, rhinos, pangolins, and an important regional migratory corridor for wild elephants and other animals. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/infrastructure-for-wildlife-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wildlife crossings</a> can serve as safe bio-corridors as well as a model for other conservation areas in the country.Establishing a wildlife conservation and ecology research centre would also allow domestic and international conservationists and scholars to engage in Nijgad for fieldwork, as well as bring additional jobs and resources to locals.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/6372211f9c7e80680e0c029ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/637221239c7e80680e0c029fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1127" height="756"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/637221259c7e80680e0c02a0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/637221299c7e80680e0c02a1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="999">4. Designation The case can be made that Nijgad already qualifies to be a national park since it shares the same ecological qualities as adjoining Parsa. In fact, without one, it would be difficult to protect what remains of the forest. The case for a national park will be bolstered with the resettlement of Tangiya Basti, and building <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-needs-wildlife-friendly-highways/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wildlife crossings</a>.Rhino deaths due to poaching have gone down in Nepal, but their deaths due to territorial fights have been increasing at an alarming rate. Rhino calves have also come under fatal attacks from the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/its-a-jungle-out-there/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">growing tiger population</a>.Territorial fights in crowded national parks, habitat fragmentation and toxic water sources are now among the leading causes of ‘natural’ deaths of endangered wildlife in Nepal. A Nijgad National Park with translocated rhinos would offer much needed new protection and territory for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/in-conservation-nepal-is-not-out-of-the-woods-yet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s conservation efforts</a> and sustainable development.5. TourismThe controversy around the airport has worked to advertise Nijgad’s rich biodiversity, creating a growing interest among urban youth to explore the area. With a planned effort that involves reforestation, building of wildlife crossings, and a national park designation, Nijgad can easily become a popular eco-tourism destination that is as easily accessible as Chitwan through the Kathmandu-Tarai expressway.Because the area is not yet prepared for this, we have a chance to build proper eco-tourism infrastructure and a service sector. The rise of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pandemic-impact-on-aviation-may-kill-nijgad/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nijgad</a> as a tourism destination would also have positive implications for the local real estate market, a matter of particular interest to the proponents of the airport project.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/6372212c9c7e80680e0c02a2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/637221309c7e80680e0c02a3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/637221339c7e80680e0c02a4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412114/637221379c7e80680e0c02a5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">6. FundingMaking funds available to get work started should not be a problem. The government recently allocated a large budget for Nijgad airport. Since the airport will now not be built, those funds can surely help get work started to turn Nijgad into a national park, and put it firmly on the tourist map.Development partners have already expressed <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/importance-of-ecosystems-for-people-and-the-planet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">keen interest to assist in this</a>. Exactly a year ago on 3 June 2021, the Asian Development Bank, Australian Embassy, British Embassy, European Union, Finnish Embassy, French Embassy, German Embassy, United Nations and World Bank in Nepal issued a joint statement reiterating their commitment of up to $7.4 billion for Nepal’s ‘Green, Resilient and Inclusive Development’.They raised pointed questions about the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/economy-ecology-of-nijgad-airport/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nijgad airport plan</a>, and wrote: ‘Forests are also the source of valuable natural resources and wildlife that support job creation and economic development in the forestry and tourism sectors.’Thanks to the Supreme Court order, Madhes Province has an opportunity to pursue a path towards green growth, and set a new benchmark for Nepal’s development, conservation and economic growth.Kashish Das Shrestha is a 2019 National Geographic Explorer and a sustainable development policy advocate. A version of this op-ed was presented to the Environment Minister Ramsahay Prasad Yadav this week by the youth environment group HarinNepal.

original

674x448

610x380

500x500

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

1250x600

1084x550

Nijgad’s green runway

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016118/636d14219c7e80680e0a9961jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="2000"/><figcaption>The terminal building of Pokhara’s new airport with its sweeping steel roof nears completion amidst a dramatic backdrop of the Annapurnas.</figcaption></figure><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19515#.YZ22olVByJC">Forty years after it was first proposed</a>, Pokhara’s new airport is finally nearing completion to connect the scenic tourism hub to regional capitals by July 2022.With an investment of Rs22 billion, China’s CAMC Engineering has now finished the runway, apron, taxiway and terminal work and all that remains to be done is to<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/cabinet-indecision-delays-pokhara-airport/"> slice off the top of a hill on the eastern approach</a> to the airport, which will be able to accommodate Airbus 320s and Boeing 757s.Nepal’s third international airport after Kathmandu and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-buddha-was-born-in-lumbini/">Lumbini</a>, the project was <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Pokhara-waits-for-take-off,4136">delayed</a> by decades of turf battles, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/business/pokhara-airport-takesoff,2965">bureaucratic hurdles, local opposition, corruption in high places,</a> and finally the pandemic last year.The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) is planning a soft opening in mid-2022 for domestic flights and then allow international flights from China, India, Malaysia and the Gulf countries.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c32WjMV3InYHowever, there are now questions about current airport, with the Pokhara Airport Office, CAAN and the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation undecided about what to do with the prime real estate.The chief of Pokhara Airport, Bikram Raj Gautam, who is also coordinating the task force to prepare for the transfer of operations, says there are no firm decisions yet."We have sent appropriate suggestions to the higher authorities," he said evasively, "ultimately, we follow what they decide. It could continue to be used for other aviation-related work."Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pokhara-nepals-new-aviation-gateway/">Pokhara: Nepal’s new aviation gateway</a>, Kunda Dixit<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016118/636d14249c7e80680e0a9962jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="475"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/cleared-to-land/">Pokhara airport</a> is the second busiest airport in the country after Kathmandu, with an average of 31 flights a day connecting Jomsom, Bhairawa, Simara, Bharatpur, Nepalganj and Kathmandu.Out of 54 airports across the country 19 are currently inoperative, and locals have turned a majority of these into grazing areas for livestock. In addition, CAAN is not up to speed on the utilities, land, and infrastructure that remain in those airfields. This raises doubts about whether it can handle the vested interests that have eyes on the present airport’s valuable real estate.“The necessary infrastructure and staff of the closed airports have all been shifted and repurposed to the nearest open airport," says CAAN’s Raj Kumar Chhetri, who adds that it is necessary to prevent encroachment and pressure from the land mafia."Such expensive property in the middle of the city cannot go to waste," he says. "If pressure on the new international airport were to drastically increase, the old airport could be brought back into service for domestic flights and sports aviation," he says.Read more:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/cleared-to-land/">Cleared to land</a> <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pokhara-will-be-a-game-changer/">"Pokhara will be a game changer"</a><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016118/636d14269c7e80680e0a9963jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="1688"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Unfortunately, the delay in decision-making means the airport may be subject to the same misuse seen in other government properties. Examples like the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/legal-niceities/">Baluwatar land scandal</a> in Kathmandu show that politicians and legislators often have their eyes on cashing in on national property.Pokhara’s civil society wants to keep the airport as an open space in a city that is urbanising fast and losing its greenery. Indeed, municipalities across Nepal are fond of erecting concrete monuments, build shopping centres and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-war-tourism-is-a-scam/">view towers</a>, or just haphazardly selling the land piecemeal.Chhetri says Pokhara’s current airport will not be abandoned like other closed airfields across the country."After appropriate research, the airport can be used in the public’s interest," he says. However, these matters are yet to be discussed with local representatives and Pokhara’s businesses.Pokhara’s deputy mayor Manju Devi Gurung is adamant about preventing unnecessary development at the site. She says: “It should be preserved as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/open-spaces-and-open-society/">an open space</a>. Even if it is the property of the national government, it should be used for the benefit of the locals of Pokhara."Local stakeholders agree that the airport should be converted into a green area with a public park. Infrastructure expert, Suryaraj Acharya sees this as an opportunity to enhance the beauty of the city, and says: "<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-green-city-is-a-smart-city/">Open spaces are integral for families and communities.</a> There is no need to even think about adding more concrete to the area."Translated from <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/126704">the original</a> by Aryan Sitaula.

What to do with Pokhara’s ‘extra’ airport?

https://youtu.be/9nLOSr_RZIkAt a time when most airlines around the world are folding, and Nepal’s own carriers struggle to stay airborne, Buddha Air has not just survived the crisis but is expanding. It is adding two more ATR-72 aircraft when others are selling or mothballing their planes. This is driven by a spurt in domestic traffic when flights resumed last September. A combination of low fuel costs and a fear of travelling by bus convinced many to fly. Forced to tighten their belts, airlines have also reduced overheads so cheaper fares are possible for middle-class Nepalis. Trunk routes, including between Kathmandu and Pokhara are packed with domestic tourists. Nepalis are flying where they had not flown before, like on Mt Everest sightseeing flights which used to be mainly for international tourists. Innovative strategies like buy-one-get-one-free to use aisle seats have meant that the weekend mountain viewing flights are full.Nepali Times spoke to Buddha Air founder Birendra Bahadur Basnet about the lessons of the pandemic and his future plans.Nepali Times: How did Buddha Air tide over the Covid-19 crisis? Birendra Bahadur Basnet: From our very inception 23 years ago, we were very focussed on prudent fiscal discipline that helped us ride out the pandemic and to survive the worst crisis in the 100 years of global aviation history. During the pandemic, our overdraft hit the sky, we had maintenance and insurance costs despite the lack of revenue. We tried to manage cash flow the best we could, and put salaries in staff accounts. We encouraged team spirit, and collective ownership of the airline by all our 1,100 staff. This gave us the strength to survive and grow. Every crisis creates an opportunity, and we created our own opportunity. The last two months were the most difficult. We brought everyone down to a basic salary. We decided that everybody has to contribute for the survival of the company. But after the flights started on 21 September, we immediately went into recovery mode, and could start paying full salaries again, so we are now back in a normal situation.  <figure><img width="1366" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb689c7e80680e08bbc0jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Birendra Basnet, Managing Director of Buddha Air</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb6b9c7e80680e08bbc1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Photos: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb6e9c7e80680e08bbc2jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb719c7e80680e08bbc3jpeg.jpg" alt="">At a time when other airlines are shrinking or going belly-up, you have not just survived, but are expanding.Yes, right now we are in a recovery mode, but you are right we just added one ATR-72 aircraft and one more end of July. This is because the Covid crisis has actually opened up a new business avenue for us — domestic passengers. What helped was the reduction in aviation fuel price and lower overheads, which allowed us to reduce fares. This in turn made it possible for a big jump in domestic passengers. In December 2020, we carried 20% more passengers than the previous December. We knew that Nepali passengers would be our bread and butter. And we started planning for a Covid-19 prevention protocol three months before we started operations. We trained all our employees, implemented the procedures, we did a lot of drills, we were able to convince passengers that it will be 100% safe to fly Buddha Air. That was the strategy that allowed us to keep flying. How badly were you hit by the loss of tourist traffic in 2020? We used to carry about 900 tourists a day pre-Covid. We are now sustained by the Nepali flying public. Nepalis who used to travel by bus have shifted to aviation because fares are comparable. So when the tourists return, it will be a bonus.What is your reasoning behind flying to remote areas within Nepal?From September 22 we are starting operations to Lukla and Taplejung in eastern Nepal from a new hub in Manthali. For this we are acquiring two STOL (short takeoff and landing) aircraft, and we are currently comparing the Viking Twin Otter and Textron Sky Courier.   <img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb749c7e80680e08bbc4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb779c7e80680e08bbc5jpeg.jpg" alt="">Why Manthali?Manthali because congestion and visibility at Kathmandu airport forces planes to go into long holds to land and take off. Flights are longer, are delayed and are unreliable. From Manthali, it will be a very short haul to Lukla, only 17 minutes. One aircraft can perform 10 shuttles between Manthali-Lukla in one morning. Our plan is to provide transport to and from Manthali, get passengers to drive two-and-half hours to Manthali one day before, stay overnight in our lodge, and the package will be cheaper than the current fares for Lukla.How about other sectors?We will serve STOL airfields in western Nepal like Jumla, Rara, Simikot, Manang, and of course Jomsom, from our Pokhara hub starting September 2023. That will also be a game changer for rural aviation in Nepal. Many of these airports have been blacktopped, some like Simikot need runways extended, and we are talking to the Civil Aviation Authority to upgrade navaids. And once flights are reliable, passenger confidence will grow and it will open up a neglected part of the country to tourism and travel.We think there is potential for Pokhara-Nepalganj post-pandemic as Indian tourists arrive. We are planning to evolve the Lucknow-Nepalganj-Pokhara package for Indian tourists through Buddha Holidays, our 100% subsidiary. <img width="640" height="427" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb7a9c7e80680e08bbc6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><img width="640" height="427" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110101156/636ccb7c9c7e80680e08bbc7jpeg.jpg" alt="">Why did you shelve your international expansion plans? Once you are making a profit and consolidated, you have to expand, that is the golden rule of business. You don’t expand when you are making a loss, which a lot of business entities have learnt the hard way. So, before the pandemic we were thinking of international operations and did a lot of homework, we did a technical evaluation of Boeing 737, Airbus 320, Embraer 190. But international flights do not just depend on good internal management, there are external factors. We would actually make a loss if we went international at this juncture. We are always ready to fly international from Pokhara’s new airport, we have the capacity, we have the license, but the government has to help remove all the constraints.What are the prospects of a revival of international tourism? I am not very optimistic about 2021, but 2022 will be a good year. If the Nepal Indian border opens, we will see an inundation of Indian tourists by road and air. Not sure about Chinese tourists because that is determined by their government. Once the vaccine is available, there will also be a return of international tourists. That will be momentous in 2022, and we have to prepare ourselves for that scenario.What should the Nepal Tourism Board be doing?We can have another interview on that. They need a lot of things that they have not done because of political instability and leaders focussed on other issues rather than development. They need to start marketing in an unconventional way. Nepal should be able to convince global tourists that flying is safe within Nepal; Nepalis have been flying without being infected because the protocols have been established. We can create that confidence in the international tourism mindset. People have been locked down for so long; they want to get out — especially to be in nature, in a pristine environment, open spaces. That should be Nepal’s selling point to revive tourism.

"Pokhara will be a game changer"

<figure><img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef404b0ad905ca02ef95jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>As Nepal prepares to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG7NAmDWEJNHKcABO13NCT9veRsxQ">finally resume flights between Kathmandu and New Delhi</a> after 11 months and restrictions on foreigners visiting Nepal are eased further, there is still confusion about the conditions for travel.Whereas only trekkers and mountaineers had been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHaQN43aLPVh6Z9sT0xGACB2BBF4Q">allowed to visit Nepal after 17 October</a>, all foreigners will now be allowed provided they get tourist entry visas from Nepal diplomatic missions abroad, or have a pre-approval or recommendation from a concerned ministry to get an on-arrival visa. Nepal’s land borders with India and China remain closed for all foreigners, according to a notice put out by the Department of Immigration this week. <img width="698" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef434b0ad905ca02ef96jpeg.jpg" alt="">All air travellers are required to have RT PCR negative reports obtained 72 hours prior to departure from first port of call. All Nepali and foreign passengers also need to spend one week in home or hotel isolation in Kathmandu.Limited flights are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-india-flights-may-resume-soon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-india-flights-may-resume-soon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkjn-kssrM2W0f56qMLpE-0EHKOQ">set to resume between Kathmandu and Delhi</a> on Thursday, 17 December ahead of a visit to India by Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali. However, there will only be two daily flights by Air India and Nepal Airlines, only Nepali and Indian nationals allowed, no onward travel permitted, and a two-week quarantine for passengers arriving in Delhi.Travel trade representatives, while welcoming the move, have said that the guidelines are too complicated and confusing, and many of them cannot be enforced. For example, the list of rules for India-Nepal travel is three pages long.Meanwhile, a visitor who applied for a tourist visa at a Nepali Embassy in Europe told Nepali Times the visa officer did not seem to have information about the new rules, and his application was forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu.“There is utter confusion,” said the visitor on condition of anonymity. “If my application has to be sent to Kathmandu for approval, what is the point saying that Nepali diplomatic missions abroad have resumed issuing tourist visas?”Indeed, there is also a lack of clarity about the kind of pre-approval or recommendation letter from a concerned ministry needed for on-arrival visa. What should the content of such a recommendation be, who is eligible, what is a ‘concerned ministry’? There have been several passengers who have been prevented from checking in on flights to Kathmandu this week because of the confusion.“The instructions about letters for on-arrival visas are so vague that our check-in officers puzzled about who is allowed and who is not,” said the representative of an international airline serving Kathmandu. Since airlines are penalised if passengers do not have proper documents, most carriers err on the side of caution.All this means that the new rules that were supposed to make it more convenient for non-Nepalis to take flights to Kathmandu have had just the opposite effect. Visitors that Nepali Times spoke to who had hoped to travel to Nepal for Christmas and New Year either for tourism or to see friends said they were not going to take the risk.Only the most determined foreign travellers, or those with connections in the travel industry or government, appear to be buying tickets to Nepal. Most airlines report that only 5-10% of their passengers to Kathmandu on every flight are non-Nepalis.Nepal had a target of attracting 2 million tourists under the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, but after 220,000 arrivals between January and March, there were no visitors till restrictions were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEOIqlGu8gKmW10fnpyK6w7RNQdNQ">partially lifted in October for hikers and climbers</a>. Since then, there have been about 500 non-Nepalis landing at Kathmandu airport every week, mostly from the United States, UK and China.Members of the Non-resident Nepalis Association and foreign passport holders born in Nepal have been allowed to return to Nepal to see family members, but again, airlines do not have clear instructions about what kind of documents they need.“The main reason for this needless confusion is because there are so many agencies of government involved with their own criteria and rules, and no one is coordinating,” said the travel trade representative.The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation with the Nepal Tourism Board have been pushing for opening up, but the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has its own process. The Ministry of Health has been issuing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-mulls-longer-quarantines/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-mulls-longer-quarantines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0Ps2wjf2CBvDnOUSbh5b5vQEy-Q">contradictory statements</a>. The Department of Immigration has its own rules. And the Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre which is supposed to streamline the process has not been able to issue clear and non-ambiguous guidelines.Although all arriving passengers are supposed to stay one week in home isolation or hotel quarantine, there is no monitoring about whether anyone actually does so. Many who are supposed to self-isolate at home have been seen in weddings, and there is no one checking to see if a person in hotel quarantine checks out after an over-night stay.Health checks at the airport are equally lackadaisical, with just a person with a thermal gun pointed at each passenger’s forehead.

Tourist visas now open for Nepal

<figure><img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be84a9c7e80680e08784cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>As Nepal prepares to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG7NAmDWEJNHKcABO13NCT9veRsxQ">finally resume flights between Kathmandu and New Delhi</a> after 11 months and restrictions on foreigners visiting Nepal are eased further, there is still confusion about the conditions for travel.Whereas only trekkers and mountaineers had been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHaQN43aLPVh6Z9sT0xGACB2BBF4Q">allowed to visit Nepal after 17 October</a>, all foreigners will now be allowed provided they get tourist entry visas from Nepal diplomatic missions abroad, or have a pre-approval or recommendation from a concerned ministry to get an on-arrival visa. Nepal’s land borders with India and China remain closed for all foreigners, according to a notice put out by the Department of Immigration this week. <img width="698" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be84d9c7e80680e08784djpeg.jpg" alt="">All air travellers are required to have RT PCR negative reports obtained 72 hours prior to departure from first port of call. All Nepali and foreign passengers also need to spend one week in home or hotel isolation in Kathmandu.Limited flights are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-india-flights-may-resume-soon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-india-flights-may-resume-soon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkjn-kssrM2W0f56qMLpE-0EHKOQ">set to resume between Kathmandu and Delhi</a> on Thursday, 17 December ahead of a visit to India by Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali. However, there will only be two daily flights by Air India and Nepal Airlines, only Nepali and Indian nationals allowed, no onward travel permitted, and a two-week quarantine for passengers arriving in Delhi.Travel trade representatives, while welcoming the move, have said that the guidelines are too complicated and confusing, and many of them cannot be enforced. For example, the list of rules for India-Nepal travel is three pages long.Meanwhile, a visitor who applied for a tourist visa at a Nepali Embassy in Europe told Nepali Times the visa officer did not seem to have information about the new rules, and his application was forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu.“There is utter confusion,” said the visitor on condition of anonymity. “If my application has to be sent to Kathmandu for approval, what is the point saying that Nepali diplomatic missions abroad have resumed issuing tourist visas?”Indeed, there is also a lack of clarity about the kind of pre-approval or recommendation letter from a concerned ministry needed for on-arrival visa. What should the content of such a recommendation be, who is eligible, what is a ‘concerned ministry’? There have been several passengers who have been prevented from checking in on flights to Kathmandu this week because of the confusion.“The instructions about letters for on-arrival visas are so vague that our check-in officers puzzled about who is allowed and who is not,” said the representative of an international airline serving Kathmandu. Since airlines are penalised if passengers do not have proper documents, most carriers err on the side of caution.All this means that the new rules that were supposed to make it more convenient for non-Nepalis to take flights to Kathmandu have had just the opposite effect. Visitors that Nepali Times spoke to who had hoped to travel to Nepal for Christmas and New Year either for tourism or to see friends said they were not going to take the risk.Only the most determined foreign travellers, or those with connections in the travel industry or government, appear to be buying tickets to Nepal. Most airlines report that only 5-10% of their passengers to Kathmandu on every flight are non-Nepalis.Nepal had a target of attracting 2 million tourists under the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, but after 220,000 arrivals between January and March, there were no visitors till restrictions were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEOIqlGu8gKmW10fnpyK6w7RNQdNQ">partially lifted in October for hikers and climbers</a>. Since then, there have been about 500 non-Nepalis landing at Kathmandu airport every week, mostly from the United States, UK and China.Members of the Non-resident Nepalis Association and foreign passport holders born in Nepal have been allowed to return to Nepal to see family members, but again, airlines do not have clear instructions about what kind of documents they need.“The main reason for this needless confusion is because there are so many agencies of government involved with their own criteria and rules, and no one is coordinating,” said the travel trade representative.The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation with the Nepal Tourism Board have been pushing for opening up, but the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has its own process. The Ministry of Health has been issuing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-mulls-longer-quarantines/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-mulls-longer-quarantines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0Ps2wjf2CBvDnOUSbh5b5vQEy-Q">contradictory statements</a>. The Department of Immigration has its own rules. And the Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre which is supposed to streamline the process has not been able to issue clear and non-ambiguous guidelines.Although all arriving passengers are supposed to stay one week in home isolation or hotel quarantine, there is no monitoring about whether anyone actually does so. Many who are supposed to self-isolate at home have been seen in weddings, and there is no one checking to see if a person in hotel quarantine checks out after an over-night stay.Health checks at the airport are equally lackadaisical, with just a person with a thermal gun pointed at each passenger’s forehead.

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb4e59c7e80680e07bbcejpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Illustration: DIWAKAR CHETTRI</figcaption></figure>The Nepal government’s plan to force through <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/megalomania-kleptomania/">a mammoth airport project</a>, despite a global recession and concerns about an ecological disaster, has been pushed back after a Swiss company decided to pull out.The government of Prime Minister K P Oli recently announced it was finalising an agreement with Zurich Airport International (ZAI) to develop the $3.45 billion airport at Nijgad, 75km south of Kathmandu.However, ZAI says it knows nothing about an agreement.“In view of the current challenges inflicted on the aviation industry by Covid-19, Zurich Airport International is focusing its activities on our existing projects in India and Brazil,” Raffaela Stelzer, a spokesperson for ZAI told Nepali Times on Thursday. “We do not foresee any investments in projects outside these areas until the situation has significantly improved.”The Oli government had been pushing Nijgad as a ‘national pride project’ ever since it came to power in 2018, and it was aggressively backed by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/does-nepal-need-a-4th-international-airport/">former Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari</a>, and by his current successor Yogesh Bhattarai.The government argues that Kathmandu airport is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Air-jam,4196">too congested</a>, has limited room for expansion, and Nijgad would be a game changer for Nepal’s economy. But it is not clear if the Nepal government is aware of the ZAI decision.In May, Minister Bhattarai authorised felling of more than 4,000 trees for a link road to the project site located in the last remaining native hardwood forest in Nepal’s eastern plains. The decision came in defiance of the standing Supreme Court order to not engage in any tree cutting for the airport project. <figure><img width="800" height="450" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb4e89c7e80680e07bbcfjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Last week, Bhattarai chaired a meeting which was told that nearly 60,000 trees had been counted and labeled for further felling. He instructed officials to complete the tree inventory by mid-November, and plan the relocation of settlements in the zone. Reports from the field say the land mafia is already moving in and encroaching on forests in anticipation of the project.In Last week’s meeting, Bhattarai also directed the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) to communicate the plans to ZAI, and prepare to sign an agreement with the Nepal government.However, even in May it was apparent that there had been no formal understanding between the Nepal government and ZAI, even though in Kathmandu the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism was using an agreement with ZAI as the basis for its decisions to go ahead with allocating a budget for tenders, and planning to cut trees.This has reinforced speculation that a purported deal with ZAI is just being used by the government to channel money for a project that it knows will not happen so the budget can be siphoned off -- as has commonly happened in many other infrastructure projects. Critics have argued that Nijgad is not really an airport project, but a logging concession. ZAI’s Stelzer told us in May: “Yes, in 2019 we expressed our general interest in this project to the government. Since then the ball has been in the court of the Nepalese government. So, the project has never really started for us and we are not able to say more about it at the moment.”Yet, Minister Bhattarai and the government have spent the last four months pretending to media and the public that things were in order with their chosen Swiss partner. Now, ZAI has confirmed that it is no longer interested in building the airport.The arguments against building Nijgad are both economic and environmental. When the grandiose project was first mooted in 1994, passenger jets had shorter range, and the hub-and-spoke model still made sense in aviation. Flights from Europe to East Asia and Australia had to make stopovers, and Nijgad could have been Nepal’s Singapore or Dubai, boosting tourism.However, with new Boeing 777X and 787-10s as well as Airbus 350s, planes can now fly point-to-point for 17 hours or more at a stretch, obviating the need for a refuelling stop. Also, awareness about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tourism-aviation-and-carbon/">climate change</a> was already reducing air travel, and now <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/pandemic-impact-on-aviation-may-kill-nijgad/">the Covid-19 crisis has forced global aviation to go belly-up</a>. Experts agree it is the wrong time to be building mega airports.Situated in the plains just south of the Chure Range and next to Parsa National Park, Nijgad is the last remaining patch of the famous Char Kose Jhari wilderness that spanned the Tarai. The forests have an important role in the hydrological ecosystem and food security downstream. Clear-cutting would jeopardise the region’s rich biodiversity, and wildlife corridors for wild elephants and other animals.A pro-forma government <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-environment-impact-non-assessments/">Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)</a> that cleared the project was found to have copy-pasted entire paragraphs from a hydropower scheme in the mountains. The Nijgad EIA says the project site at 200m elevation is the habitat of two mammal species only found in the high mountains. <figure><img width="1500" height="844" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb4ea9c7e80680e07bbd0jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The government has said it will build Nijgad with its own money if foreign investors are not interested. But can Nepal, which has been hard-hit by the Covid-19 crisis,  afford an expensive airport when job losses are driving Nepalis to hunger and suicide?Yet, the government remains firmly committed to this white elephant project. The reason probably has something to do with profits that can be made in kickbacks for logging contracts. It must be too tempting to pass up – especially to build a political war-chest ahead of the 2022 elections.The deal to clear-cut the valuable sal hardwood timber is said to be worth at least $500,000,000, and if there is no airport, there will be no justification to clear the forest.Illegal natural resource extraction is already the most lucrative business in Nepal, with contractors enjoying full political protection from many local ward chairs to the federal government in Kathmandu. Illegal sand-mining, quarrying, and the land mafia are well-established and have deep connections to politicians at the highest levels in Nepal.In the 2017 elections, some of these contractors even got themselves elected as mayors, and became members of provincial and federal parliaments. Illegal and unsustainable sand and boulder mining of mountains and rivers have changed the entire landscape of parts of Nepal. <figure><img width="1844" height="1120" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb4ee9c7e80680e07bbd1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The government and backers of the project have called those opposing the project  ‘anti-development’ and ‘dollar-funded’, and people who do not want to see Nepal prosper.Bara district, where Nijgad is located, is also ground-zero for extreme weather events in recent years: heat waves, recurring floods, winter cold snaps that have killed hundreds, and even a freak tornado last year that flattened villages, killing 70.With the climate crisis intensifying natural disasters, would any developer investing $3.45 billion take such a site seriously for an airport that needs to be a busy international aviation hub?The answer is no. But there is just too much money to be made, and Nepal’s kleptocracy is pushing this ghost airport so it can make a quick killing.Kashish Das Shrestha is a <a href="https://admin.nationalgeographic.org/find-explorers/kashish-das-shrestha">National Geographic Explorer</a>. He is a former adviser to Parliament’s Natural Resources and Means Committee and Water and Energy Committee. @kashishds

Zurich Airport International opts out of Nepal project

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7979c7e80680e073791jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Sunrise near Phaplu in Solu Khumbu after snowfall in January just before Nepal was closed off for tourists. Photo: MANISH PAUDEL</figcaption></figure>It was Nepal’s misfortune that all the expensive preparations for Visit Nepal 2020, during which the country hoped to attract a record 2 million visitors, have gone to waste because of the Covid-19 crisis.For five months now, regular international domestic flights have been grounded. Kathmandu airport is scheduled to reopen for limited regular flights next week, but may not be fully operational at least till early next year. Trekking trails are all empty and there were no crowds on the south side of Mt Everest this spring.  Nepal's tourism industry is on the brink of collapse. Some restaurants and bars that opened after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-ends-covid-19-lockdown/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-ends-covid-19-lockdown/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598512923471000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEFP_JaB7l768pJRgj8d9vpfYy-PA">the 21 July easing</a> are closed again. Some hotels are getting business from being turned into quarantine centres, but trekking and mountaineering agencies, airlines, tourist bus companies, cable car operators, safari resorts, handicraft vendors are all on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-lockdown-2-0/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandu-lockdown-2-0/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598512923471000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGEgNdzpWtmmVT4LLBmDGD8sIrA-A">the brink of collapse</a>."Hotels have been very badly hit, and business is expected to shrink from 7.33% growth to a startling negative 16.3% decline in 2019/2020," says Shreejana Rana, president of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN). Most hotels are keeping staff with reduced pay, but 25% of employees have been laid off.With more than $700 million in annual earnings, tourism makes up an equivalent of 8% of Nepal’s GDP. It employs 500,000 people directly just in trekking and mountaineering, with 2 million others benefiting from tourism indirectly. For the government, there is a loss of revenue from taxes, mountain climbing fees, and national parks have lost income they used to plough into conservation work.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-prepares-for-economic-fallout-of-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal prepares for economic fallout of pandemic</a>, Kaustubh DhitalNepal’s domestic airlines used to charge foreigners higher ‘dollar fares’ than locals, and it made up to 40% of the revenue for airlines like Tara Air with which they used to subsidise Nepalis flying to remote areas. The Tourism Ministry announced this week that it was scrapping the two-tier fares, enraging airline operators who are already reeling from the five-month lockdown.  Yankila Sherpa, former Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, is now managing director of Snow Leopard Trek which specialises in high-value treks for 300 clients per year from the US, Europe and Southeast Asia. “We have had to lay off all our field staff,” Sherpa says. <figure><img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba79a9c7e80680e073792jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Deserted Kathmandu airport. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Some 15% of the 1.2 million tourists who visited Nepal last year said they were going on treks or mountaineering expeditions. Porters, cooks and trekking staff lost out in the spring season. Many who used to then go to Ladakh during the monsoon to work on treks there could not this year. And now it looks like the autumn season is nixed as well.But it need not be like this. Some companies involved in trekking say it makes no sense to close off trekking and mountaineering if other visitors are being allowed from 1 September.“They have to get PCR negative tests before getting on a plane anyway, why not let tourists come and go up to the mountains? OK, if you want, give them another PCR test here and get them to quarantine for a few days in Kathmandu,” says one international tourism operative.   Yankila Sherpa agrees: “Nepal’s mountains are the safest places in the world right now, and people long to return. I am confident that tourism will resume in a different way.”For now, Ministry of Tourism projects that Nepal stands to lose at least $400 million this year from visitors. But in terms of jobs and livelihoods, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/economic-cost-of-5-months-of-nepal-lockdown/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/economic-cost-of-5-months-of-nepal-lockdown/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598512923471000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHwsye4UuM6shUcpBbVhuqhLv6EQg">loss is incalculable</a>. And it affects downstream sectors like construction and the products needed for it like cement, steel rods, fixtures, plumbing, wiring, transportation.   Dhruba Kumar Subedi of Koshi Tours and Travels, explains, "The tourism industry actually benefitted a whole range of businesses from construction of new hotels and infrastructure, agriculture, poultry farming, laundry services. So, the economic cost of Covid-19 will be disastrous and multi-sectoral."Nepal had been gearing up for Visit Nepal 2020 all of last year with promotional campaigns in European, Indian and Chinese markets.The drive was kicked off amidst huge fanfare on 1 January, 2020 at the Dasrath Stadium in Kathmandu with helicopter fly pasts.The NVY 2020 secretariat organised other lavish events such as a fashion runway at Kala Pattar below Mt Everest, ice-skating in Gokyo, and commissioned artists to paint huge fiberglass yetis and placed them at key locations in Kathmandu. However, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/love-it-or-hate-it-its-abominable/">the campaign was criticised</a> for not focusing on promotions in source countries for tourism, and even because some of the painted yetis hurting religious sentiments.   <figure><img width="800" height="673" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba79e9c7e80680e073793jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Ice skating in Gokyo.</figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7a09c7e80680e073794jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>The Visit Nepal 2020 yeti mascot was met with criticism and some outrage. Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>The campaign had a budget of Rs650 million, and aimed to nearly double the number of tourists in 2020. As the pandemic spread across China and Europe, it was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lets-call-off-visit-nepal-year-2020/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lets-call-off-visit-nepal-year-2020/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598512923471000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEwELZQ61LUL1hnskjmBHTuU3pI_g">officially called off in March</a>. Some of the yetis are still around, and Nepal Airlines still carries the Visit Nepal 2020 logo emblazoned on the sides of its Airbuses that have become like parodies.The pandemic affected many mountaineering expeditions, including ones to Mt Everest, that had to abandon their climbs halfway. International conferences on eco-tourism, climate change and the travel industry had to be cancelled.Shree Gurung of Party Nepal Event Management and Media Company, planned to take 10 YouTubers and influencers from 7 continents to Mt Everest Base Camp for a ‘World Vlogging Challenge’.“Everyone tried to come up with new perspectives to make VNY 2020 grand. Investments were made, events and expeditions were planned, but we are now in a limbo," Gurung says.Experts now fear that the Covid-19 crisis will result in another exodus of Nepal’s tourism workforce abroad, as happened during the conflict years. In fact, the impact of the pandemic on Nepal’s trekking and tourism is much worse than the war, earthquake and Blockade.With over 15% of Nepal’s population working abroad and 28<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/high-risk-remittance/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/high-risk-remittance/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598512923471000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGILTRWMJ5ea2GtreHvtzJC_4XUZg">% of the country’s GDP made up by remittance,</a> Nepal ranks 2nd in Asia after Kazakhstan in terms of its reliance on the money sent home by its migrant workers abroad. This reliance on migration is expected to grow in the post-pandemic era.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/one-way-ticket-home-for-overseas-nepali-workers/">One-way ticket home for overseas Nepali workers</a>, Upasana Khadka <figure><img width="4032" height="3024" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7a49c7e80680e073795jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Phewa Lake in Pokhara awaits tourists. Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>But jobs in the service and tourism sectors have collapsed even in countries where Nepalis are traditionally migrated for work. The Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies says that 10%-30% of migrant workers in the Gulf countries and Malaysia have lost their jobs. It expects about 500,000 to return to Nepal soon.But there are also opportunities hidden in this crisis. If it plays its cards right, Nepal's tourism industry could expand its workforce, and use it to serve a COVID-customised strategy. Says Shreejana Rana, "Given the international restrictions on travel and the current scenario, we don't think things will be back to normal before August 2021, so we must focus on domestic tourism.”Indeed, after being cooped up for nearly half a year, there will be pent-up demand for travel among Nepal’s urban residents. During past crises, it was Nepali visitors that kept the hotels, restaurants and bars open in Pokhara and other destinations. The travel industry is now crossing fingers that limited in-country travel will be allowed in the next month so that Nepalis will explore Nepal during the Dasain-Tihar holidays.   But Dhruba Kumar Subedi of Koshi Tours and Travels is not so optimistic. “While we do cater to international tourists, most of our business was actually from Nepali clients taking vacations during Dasain. This year, we are completely shut down."Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/survive-2020-revive-in-2021-and-thrive-in-2022/">“Survive 2020, revive in 2021 and thrive in 2022”</a>, Alisha Sijapati

Didn’t Visit Nepal Year 2020

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70569c7e80680e060072jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2088" height="1474"/><figcaption>Aerial view of Baudha</figcaption></figure>Swiss geologist <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2692#.VRzIePmUdQ4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Toni Hagen</a> first came to Nepal in 1950, crisscrossed the mountains and plains on foot to find out the kind of rocks the country was made of. His detailed stratigraphic cross sections of Nepal for the first time gave us an idea of what lay beneath our feet.Along the way he also took thousands of photographs and film which have been carefully archived by his family in Switzerland. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2692#.XhlEIy2Q0Wo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Toni Hagen died in 2003</a>, but the images represent a time capsule of the land and people, and show us the way we were.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70599c7e80680e060073jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1327"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Some of these photographs were included in the multiple editions of <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19173" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal</a>, the classic book about the country first published in 1962 which <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/a-serious-swiss-toni-hagen-nepal,888" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced Nepal to the world</a>, and through its Nepali language edition, to Nepalis themselves.Now, the Nepal Heritage Society has published another collection of Toni Hagen’s photographs of Kathmandu Valley, some of which were included in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/kathmandu-valley-then" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an exhibition at the Nepal Art Council</a> in 2015 on the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/tony-hagen-kathmandu-exhibition,3946" target="_blank" rel="noopener">centennial of Toni Hagen’s birth.</a><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b705c9c7e80680e060074jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="423"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70609c7e80680e060075jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="423">Vishnumati flowing clean and blue with Langtang peering over Shivapuri ridge. The Bagmati at Thapathali with a monsoon cumulus looming above Pulchoki.Toni Hagen: Photos of Kathmandu Valley 1950-1960 is edited by his physician daughter, Katrin, with extended captions by history professor Poonam Rajya Laxmi Rana. The book contains photographs that have not yet been published combined with accompanying historical text. This is an important work that shows us Kathmandu in aerial photography 70 years ago, neighbourhoods and street scenes that have long gone, but there are also plenty of reminders of how the inner city bahals and squares have not changed much in the six decades since the photographs were taken.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70639c7e80680e060076jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2638" height="1778"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>‘The photos and films by my father have immense value not only for the archives but for the studies of glaciers, as many of them have changed due to climate change,’ write Katrin Hagen in her preface. ‘The pictures of the old days are somehow a cultural heritage … there was no water supply, no sanitation facilities. But the water of the Bagmati was clean, there was no plastic waste.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70669c7e80680e060077jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1267"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Indeed, the book allows us to travel back in time to a Kathmandu where the Bagmati reflects the deep-blue monsoon sky, dark rain-heavy monsoon clouds draping the familiar outline of Pulchoki, the green paddy terraces  encircling towns with earthy brown sloping tile roofs. And, possibly because he was from Switzerland, almost all of Hagen’s photographs have as their backdrop snow mountains in the background.Buffaloes wallowing in Chapagain have Dorje Lakpa in the background. Oxen pull a plough with Ganesh Himal glistening on the horizon. Women in Not Danda carry firewood, with the entire panorama of the Central Himalaya on the horizon. In one photograph from Sanga on a clear day, you can see clear across Nepal to the Annapurnas.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b706a9c7e80680e060078jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1301"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Hagen chartered a six-seater Haviland biplane in Patna and flew it into Gauchar to take the first ever aerial photographs of Kathmandu Valley in 1950. One black-and-white photograph from above Hanuman Dhoka looking east towards Tundikhel shows just how much the city has changed and how much of it remains the same. There is Tundikhel with the khari tree in the middle, the temples of Kathmandu Darbar Square, Bhugol Park, the open space around Dharara and the two-storey buildings of Khichapokhari.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b706d9c7e80680e060079jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1347"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Ambica Shrestha, President of the Nepal Heritage Society that published the book, says in an introduction: ‘Sharing these photos reminds those who witnessed Kathmandu’s past, and those who did not have the good fortune to do so, to see and experience the scenes and atmosphere of the time.’Rana’s explanatory text provide the background to the images, giving he historical context. The words accompanying the rare aerial photograph of Singha Darbar, for instance, traces the history of neo-classical Rana architecture. There is one anecdote about Jung Bahadur being asked by a foreign visitor why his palace did not have an indoor toilet. His answer: “We do not go to the toilet, the toilet comes to us.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70709c7e80680e06007ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1318"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Toni Hagen: Photos of Kathmandu Valley 1950-1960Edited by Katrin Hagen, Text by Poonam Rajya Laxmi RanaNepal Heritage SocietyVajra Books, 2019176 pages     Rs4,000<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70739c7e80680e06007bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="451">For more photographs from the book <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/kathmandu-valley-then" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click this link to the 2015 exhibition</a> of Toni Hagen’s photographs.

Kunda Dixit

Time capsule of Kathmandu

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b703c9c7e80680e060069jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1001"/><figcaption>Look east : Sunrise near Phaplu in Solu Khumbu after recent snowfall. Photo : MANISH PAUDEL</figcaption></figure>Ever since Time magazine printed a story in 1992 titled ‘Goodbye Shangrila’, Nepal’s travel trade and government have tried to clean up the country’s international image.Visitor arrivals plummeted during the conflict years, and even after the ceasefire there was negative publicity about the instability, strikes and shutdowns. The earthquake and the Blockade also <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/tourism-is-down-but-not-out-in-nepal,2262" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hit tourism hard</a>.But Nepal is such <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/a-solid-tourism-brand-for-nepal,845" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a solid brand</a>, and such a unique tourism product, that visitor numbers are picking up again. Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada is credited with picking <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/bringing-in-two-miilion-tourists,3551" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the target of 2 million</a> as a way to revive income from tourism to help balance Nepal’s growing trade deficit.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=38900&amp;preview_nonce=76ffe3ead4&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Nepal Brand,</a> EditorialIn the 1980s, tourism made up 22% of Nepal’s GDP. It now contributes only 4%, not necessarily because tourism is down, but because other sectors like remittances and trade have grown. Under Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari, 2020 was chosen to promote Nepal internationally so that we could reach the magic 2 million figure.But Adhikari was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-last-journey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed in a helicopter crash last year</a>, and travel trade executives say promotion activities have not been effective enough. President Bidya Devi Bhandari inaugurated <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/make-sure-you-visit-nepal-in-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Nepal Year 2020</a> at Kathmandu’s main stadium on 1 January with fireworks and a flypast of military helicopters. But critics said the money would have been better spent on promotion abroad.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/chinese-tourist-influx-to-nepal-in-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chinese tourist influx to Nepal in 2020</a>, Josie Wang<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/make-sure-you-visit-nepal-in-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Make sure you visit Nepal in 2020</a>, Anil ChitrakarInstead of promoting Nepal within Nepal, the government should have cleaned up Nepal. The country’s image has suffered lately because of social media posts by visitors shocked by Kathmandu’s squalour and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pollution</a>.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/unusual-appointment-extraordinary-tasks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai</a> has been ridiculed in social media for visiting Sydney this week, in the middle of a bushfire emergency, to promote Nepal. The government has also run into flak for a daft proposal to mandate very Nepali worker flying out to wear Visit Nepal t-shirts and caps.Bhattarai admits that airports need to be upgraded and service improved. But he adds: “There have been improvements at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/kathmandu-airport-is-nepal-in-a-microcosm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathmandu Airport</a>, we are taking steps to make the travel experience more pleasant.”Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pokhara-nepals-new-aviation-gateway/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pokhara: Nepal's new aviation gateway</a>, Kunda DixitThe travel industry says the emphasis should be on making a Nepal trip as convenient as possible for visitors by streamlining the airport, its tedious visa-on-arrival process, and sprucing up the country’s crumbling infrastructure. There should also be a moratorium on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/new-high-way-to-dolpo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">excavators digging roads over trekking trails</a>. The other deterrent is that Nepal is an expensive place to travel to because the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/high-cost-lays-aviation-low-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">price of aviation fuel here is double</a> that in other airports in the region.Says hotelier Yogendra Shakya: “Nepal is ideally placed to tap the vast tourism potential from India, China and Southeast Asia, and promotion should focus there first.”

Long road back to Shangrila

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70439c7e80680e06006cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photos : JOSIE WANG</figcaption></figure>Standing in his field on the outskirts of Pokhara and below the dazzling snows of the Annapurna mountains, Xiang Shaohua points to peach saplings in his orchard.The seedlings were sent to him by his son and daughter who are studying back home in China. And just like Xiang himself, the peach are striking roots in Nepal’s soil.Xiang first came to Nepal 10 years ago as a tourist, travelled to Pokhara and was so mesmerised by the place and people here that he never left.Today, he rents 2 hectares of farm and is growing lettuce, cauliflower and fruits commercially to sell to the market and restaurants in the lakeside tourist town. He also works as a subcontractor at Pokhara airport, and at other infrastructure projects.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/miyahara-san-a-life-devoted-to-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Miyahara-san: a life devoted to Nepal,</a> Kunda Dixit“In the beginning, it was only supposed to be for three years, and if it did not work out, I planned to go back to China,” Xiang recalls. “It has not all been smooth sailing, but it has been worth it.”Xiang now has his father and wife helping out at the farm. The fact that he came from a farming family back in Sichuan where the climate and soil are similar to Nepal, has been helpful.Xiang says his most challenging period was during the 2015 blockade, when supplies were scarce. He felt like quitting, but realised he had greater responsibilities.“Actually, I could have left, but that would have meant that my Nepali employees would be out of their jobs,” recalls 32-year-old Xiang, who speaks Nepali with a distinct Pokhara lilt and considers himself “half Nepali”. Everyone here knows him by his Nepali nickname, Sandesh, and some call him China’s “non-governmental ambassador” to Nepal.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/from-liz-hawley-in-kathmandu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From Liz Hawley in Kathmandu</a>, Kunda DixitHis Nepali side was heartbroken to see the destruction after <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/photos-nepal-earthquake-2015,2207" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the 2015 earthquake</a>, and reminded him of the deadly Sichuan earthquake of 2008. He and some other Chinese from Pokhara set up a rescue team and headed off to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2015/11/26/winter-emergency-for-quake-survivors/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gorkha</a> to dig among the ruins with their bare hands and shovels to rescue people.While tens of thousands of youth from Pokhara have migrated to the Gulf or Malaysia for work, Xiang is proof that there is plenty to do in Nepal itself, and it is possible to prosper if one is prepared for hard work.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b70469c7e80680e06006djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">“Farming is very labour intensive, and I notice that most educated young Nepalis are unwilling to do it,” says Xiang, who recalls the first time he came to Pokhara and noticed that farm productivity could be easily improved. That is when he saw an opportunity to put some of his own farming experience to good use, and stayed. Now, Xiang regards Nepal as his second home, and his Nepali neighbours regard the cheerful Nepali-speaking Chinese as a Nepali too.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/uncategorized/goodbye-jan-and-christine-2018/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Goodbye Jan and Christine</a>“I know Nepal. I know what Nepalis need. At the same time, I can communicate with Chinese enterprises to know what they want, and I can be a good go-between,” says Xiang.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pokhara-nepals-new-aviation-gateway/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">With the new airport</a>, and Chinese contractors working on various hydropower projects in Central Nepal, Xiang sees lots of opportunity for mutual learning between Nepali and Chinese people.Xiang is not interested in making the quick buck, and says: “I would rather do something I like doing even if I do not make money for a while.”Farming is not that profitable, but it is a passion and he enjoys growing food among people he likes, and in a land he calls his second home.In his office, a poster on the wall in Mandarin characters says: ‘Remain true to your aspiration’. Xiang appears to follow his motto to the letter. And as he starts his second decade in Nepal, Xiang wants to make the best of his life in Pokhara.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4163#.XhbhGVUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">We'll stay</a>, Ramyata Limbu

airport

Nijgad’s green runway

What to do with Pokhara’s ‘extra’ airport?

"Pokhara will be a game changer"

Tourist visas now open for Nepal

Tourist visas now open for Nepal

Zurich Airport International opts out of Nepal project

Didn’t Visit Nepal Year 2020

Time capsule of Kathmandu

Long road back to Shangrila

Chinese farmer strikes roots in Nepal