NTB's STLRP wins PATA Gold Award for third time

KATHMANDU, July 24:The Sustainable Tourism for Livelihood Recovery Project (STLRP), in collaboration with the Nepal Tourism Board and the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) Nepal, received the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award for the third time.

According to the PATA headquarters, the project has been awarded the PATA Gold Award for 2024 in Community Based Tourism.

The project earned this award because it established tourism employment possibilities and increased capacity for sustainable tourism development by constructing tourist sites in diverse areas in Nepal in collaboration with seven provinces, 58 districts, and 85 city/rural municipalities.

Previously in 2022 and 2023, the STLRP project received a (PATA) Gold Award.

STLRP received the PATA Gold Award in 2023 for its initiatives focusing on women's empowerment via tourism, sustainability, and social responsibility, and it also won the PATA Gold Award in 2022 for Tourism Destination Resiliency.

Nandini Lahe Thapa, Acting Executive Head of Nepal Tourism Board, stated that the initiative has consistently received the Pata Award, and that the project's work has made a significant contribution to the tourism sector.

Following COVID-19, the project provided around 10,000 tourism workers with short-term employment and 4,000 people with capacity-building training.

In addition, Shraddha Shrestha, manager of the NTB and national program coordinator, stated that tourist sites have been established in various municipalities across the seven provinces.

During this time, the project has created a river guide for women, a trekking guide for sexual and gender minorities, and a tourism strategy for one and a half hundred communities across seven provinces.

In 130 schools, the National Sustainable Tourism Club has also been formed.

Similarly, project Acting Manager Dharma Dawadi stated that several types of tourism guide manuals have been developed in partnership with tourism public awareness programs and other private stakeholders in tourism.