Visit Pokhara Year 2025 starts with major NICE Nepal India China Expo

Up in the Wind

Dear reader,

Last week your humble editor mentioned the fact that China and India appear to have ended a four-year long conflict about their border regions that might help to convince India to allow the usage of Indian airspace for international flights using the Chinese-build and -financed airport in Pokhara, two years after its completion. Two days ago and yesterday I used the existing domestic flight connection with Buddha Air, a 25 minute Turboprop hop prolonged only by the customary delay, in our case about two hours from Kathmandu and more than three hours on the way back.

The international part of the airport still waits for business, while the international airport in Kathmandu will be closed during the night from November 8th to the end of March 2025 to enlarge the runways. Some people might think it would have made more sense to wait a bit longer with these works until it is possible to use Pokhara airport as an alternative, however this is rather a sign that the mindset of your humble editor has not yet fully adapted to the way things are done in this part of the world. Anyway, the Pokhara airport for some reasons still lacks a proper road connecting it to the city centre and the bustling Lakeside area.

The city enjoyed a first surge of Chinese visitors about ten years ago, when “Up in the Wind” a Chinese film that was shot in Pokhara, Nepal, in 2013 led to many Chinese travellers going to Nepal, especially Pokhara, which became more popular than Kathmandu.

Your humble editor was granted the honour to meet with the mayor of Pokhara city, H.E. Dhana Raj Acharya, who showed great enthusiasm for the NICE 2025 Nepal India China Expo, which will probably become the biggest tourism event ever happening until now in what is rightly called the “tourism capital of Nepal”. The second-biggest city of Nepal is celebrating in 2025 the “Visit Pokhara Year 2025”, so NICE will be a fitting start at the end of February next year, using the brand-new impressive Pokhara Event Centre, which opened last year and provides space for up to 2,000 participants. In the mayors office, your humble editor was given a Khata, a Nepali cap and a Buddha figure, as can be seen on the picture in this newsletter.

NICE will concentrate on the two major markets for Nepal, India and China, which currently are responsible each for about a fifth of all arrivals respectively. A workshop a few days before February 24th about how to work successfully with the Chinese market and the NICE conference on the first day will be organised with the involvement of COTRI and your humble editor. NICE is happy to have been able to reach an agreement with GITF Guangzhou International Travel Fair as the main partner for the acquisition of Chinese exhibitors and buyers. GITF is gaining influence in China as one of the two big tourism fairs next to ITB China in Shanghai. On December 2nd and 4th the Nepal NTB and PATA Nepal Chapter will organise together with GITF a road show to promote both fairs. Any readers being in the area are of course warmly invited to participate.

As always, all best wishes from Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt and the whole COTRI INTELLIGENCE team!