Kathmandu residents invites to come to Pokhara to celebrate New Year

KATHMANDU, April 10:Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Pokhara has organized a Fewa New Year Festival, inviting tourists, to celebrate Nepali New Year. Businessmen believe that this situation will not last until the Nepali New Year, as tourist traffic in Pokhara, which is currently busy welcoming visitors, is decreasing.

According to Laxman Subedi, president of HAN Pokhara, the 18th Fewa New Year Festival will be held for three days beginning April 12th. A program is being held on the two-kilometer Pokhara-6 Lakeside road by stopping vehicle movement for the festival. 

According to reports, the festival will highlight ethnic costumes, lifestyle, food, cultural aspects, and promote Gandaki province's natural resources.President Subedi believes that the New Year Festival will fill at least half of Pokhara's hotels and will add new excitement to the tourism industry. Hotels have also arranged special discounts for the festival. Subedi stated that during the tourist season, the hotel should be 80 to 90 percent full, but it is currently only 20 to 25 percent full. He stated that the hotel needed to be 50% full in order to survive.

The Nepali government should take particular measures to draw tourists, says Prabin Bahadur Pandey, second vice-president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN). He said that in order to promote the travel and tourism sector, business and government should collaborate.

In order to introduce the Nepali New Year to foreigners, the event was arranged for the New Year, according to Bharat Raj Parajuli, a former president of the HAN Pokhara. He claims that the festival will be held along the lakeside road leading from Fistel Gate to Hallan Chowk in Pokhara.

According to Parbati Pandey, Secretary of HAN Pokhara, the tourism industry, which had been returning to normalcy following Corona, is once again in crisis. He claims that, while tourists are flocking to Pokhara, not everyone benefits because there are so many business owners. According to Pandey, there has been a decrease in tourist traffic due to changes in air and road routes.