Govt partners with IFC to develop greater Pokhara region

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) — the private sector wing of the World Bank Group - have joined hands to promote Greater Pokhara Region (GPR) as part of implementation of the 10-year National Tourism Strategic Plan (2015-2024).

IFC will extend support worth $150,000 under this programme. According to MoCTCA Spokesperson Mohan Krishna Sapkota, IFC will be instrumental in assisting the MoCTCA on destination development plan for Pokhara, which is one of the six priority destinations identified by the strategic plan. Major objective of this joint initiative is to increase length of stay of tourists in Pokhara, increase volume of tourists and increase per day spending.

Under this pact, IFC will be engaged in market development, product promotion and diversification as these will ultimately help increase the yield per tourist (spending per day) by 50 per cent over next five years. Various activities are being planned under the GPR such as developing a cycling network to promote road biking/mountain biking, upgrading and developing new trekking trails, and developing Pokhara as a meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) destination.

Other key initiatives are to enhance access between Pokhara and Dhorpatan hunting reserve and surrounding areas and revive ancient heritage sites. Apart from tourist destination development, IFC will support Department of Tourism to review and streamline tourism licences at central and subnational level, Sapkota said.

Other activities to be performed in coming five years are legal reform in tourism sector registration and licensing one-stop service unit in country that will ultimately boost potential of tourism along with identifying key legal and regulatory constraints to investments

source: the himalayan times,30 april 2015