Tourist coaches on Pokhara-Chitwan route from Monday

Pokhara: Tourism entrepreneurs are starting luxury coach services from next week on Pokhara-Chitwan-Pokhara route in a bid to facilitate travel between the two major tourism destinations. The services will begin from Monday. Tour operators said they have brought in luxury coaches for the purpose.

Pokhara Chapter of Nepal Association of Tours and Travels Agents (NATTA) and Regional Hotel Association in Chitwan took the initiative after tourists and other stakeholders repeatedly requested for better services for intercity travel.

“Initially, two tourist coaches will operate on the route every day,” said Santosh Pokharel, first vice president of NATTA. The coaches will operate between Pokhara and Sauraha.

We will add more coaches if the volume of passengers increases, he added. Operators have fixed one-way fare at Rs 500 per person. Same rate will apply for both domestic as well as foreign tourists.

Tour operators in the city currently operate 18 tourist coaches on Pokhara-Kathmandu-Pokhara route, ferrying around 900 tourists every day. Likewise, entrepreneurs have also been operating five vehicles on Kathmandu-Chitwan-Kathmandu route every day.

They have now decided to link the two major tourist destinations after a large number of tourists visiting Chitwan avoided traveling to Pokhara in the absence of direct tourist bus service.

“Similar complaints were coming from tourists in Pokhara as well. Both Chitwan and Pokhara draw a large number of visitors, but in the absence of direct connectivity, we have not been able to encourage visitors to travel from one city to another,” said Pokharel.

Though a large number of passenger vehicles operate between Chitwan and Pokhara, the quality of service remains poor.

With the start of intercity luxury bus services, entrepreneurs in Pokhara believe they will be able to bring in at least 20 percent of tourists visiting Chitwan to the Lake City. According to records, Chitwan sees arrival of 250,000 tourists every year. Domestic tourists make up 40 percent of that number.

“It will enable entrepreneurs to design combined tour packages as well,” said Shankar Sainju, president of Hotel Association, Chitwan.

Just as entrepreneurs in Pokhara, hoteliers in Chitwan, too, are optimistic that with the launch of direct tourist coach service they will be able to attract a large number of tourists from Pokhara as well.

According to entrepreneurs, Pokhara lures more than 550,000 tourists annually, of which around 300,000 are foreigners.

source: republica,1 April 2012