Demand to declare Thamel as a special tourist area

KATHMANDU, Dec 29: Tourism entrepreneur have demanded the government to declare Thamel as a special tourist zone. Tourism professionals have demanded that the government declare Thamel as a special tourist zone, saying that 80 percent of the tourists who come to Nepal arrive in Thamel. The entrepreneur said that it is necessary to declare the special tourist area of Nepal as Thamel has the necessary services for tourists all over Nepal.

President of Thamel Tourism Development Council Bhabiswpr Sharma said that since Thamel is the first tourist city of Nepal, the government should declare Thamel as a special tourist area. He said that 99 percent of the tourism entrepreneur are in Thamel, so 80 percent of the tourists who come to Nepal come to Thamel. Kathmandu Metropolis announced a public toilet campaign after the local elections, but it was not implemented, he said, adding that the government needs to build at least 4 public toilets in Thamel.

He also complained that tourists are not allowed to come to Thamel due to lack of public toilets. Sharma stressed on the need to organize road blackouts and peace and security in order to increase tourist arrivals in Thamel. Chairman Sharma said that the work of beautification of Thamel has been started to increase the tourist attraction. He said that the tourism sector, which has become relaxed after the corona pandemic, is slowly coming back to its rhythm. He said that businesses in the Thamel area, which were 99 percent closed due to the Corona epidemic, have started to recover.

Saying that now there are 60 percent more tourists in hotels in Thamel, President Sharma said that 45 tipper wires have been managed till Saturday in Thamel wire management campaign which has been going on for a month. He said that now 85 percent of Thamel's wires have been managed and 15 percent of the wires are yet to be managed. He also said that preparations are being made to install lights and security cameras in every street in Thamel.