September 12: Nepal chapter of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in collaboration with Visit Nepal Year 2020 and Nepal Tourism Board is organizing Nepal-India-China Expo (NICE) in Nepal.

 PATA Nepal informed that the tri-nation tourism expo, which is a first of its kind event, is scheduled to be held in Kathmandu from February 21 to 24, 2020. 

 The tri-nation tourism expo is a noble concept envisioned by PATA Nepal chapter for bringing together tourism and hospitality stakeholders of Nepal, India, and China, in a single platform. 

 Sunil Shakya, chairman of PATA Nepal chapter, during  a press conference held in the capital on Wednesday, September 11, informed that the tri-nation expo will have unparalleled networking and business opportunities, industry insights, and inspiration between the tourism entrepreneurs of the three neighboring countries.

 Nepal is rightly and geopolitically placed between the two giant economies and can contribute hugely in bridging the gap between the two countries, which have arranged bilateral trade but, have never organized a tri-nation event, Shakya added. 

 PATA Nepal chapter in a statement informed that the expo aims to bring together the two emerging giant economies and tourism powerhouses - India and China -- to foster the untapped tourism potentials and integrated business opportunities with Nepal as a facilitator. 

 NICE aims to further help to consolidate the relationship between the three countries, focusing mainly in the field of tourism and hospitality, the statement added.

 China and India are two of the largest outbound source markets in the world with Nepal as one of its immediate recipient nations.

According to 2018 statistics, approximately 150 million Chinese traveled abroad, out of which only 0.1% visited Nepal while only 0.75% of Indian tourists visited Nepal out of 25.85 million total outbound Indian visitors. 

 NICE will feature 200 plus regional buyers, 100 exhibitors, 15 plus keynote speakers, and hundreds of guests and delegates including government officials, media invitees, and trade visitors. It aims to mark the national celebration of Visit Nepal Year 2020, informed Shakya.

 “We will be collaborating with different tourism organizations and stakeholders in Nepal, India, and China; and we seek the active cooperation and support from all our partners, sponsors, airlines,

hotels, media and the entire travel-trade fraternity of our nation– Nepal for making this the historic initiative successful,” said Shakya.