Kathmandu, July 13

The visiting Chinese business delegation Friday urged the government and the private sector involved in the tourism business to improve the quality of services to attract more Chinese tourists in Nepal.

Speaking at an interaction programme with the Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs in the capital, they said that the prospect of increasing the number of Chinese tourists visiting Nepal was much higher if the government and private sector improved the quality of the service provided to the tourists and eased the processes in issuing the visa.

The Chinese delegation led by Wang Quan, executive director of the Tourist Association of Shaanxi Province, Xi’an and General Manager of Xi’an Everbright International Travel Service, arrived in Kathmandu Wednesday.

Stating that they were interested to work to promote Nepal among the Chinese tourists, Wang suggested that Nepal should look far and wide and work to improve its quality.

"Chinese tourists generally come to Nepal for recreational and religious proposes. They do not come here for adventure or natural beauty," he said adding, "The number can go much higher even if Nepal lures one per cent of the total Chinese tourists."

He also suggested that Nepal should create a platform for attracting tourists by providing information in Chinese (Mandarin) language as well.

Talking to The Rising Nepal, Dr. Rajiv Jha, Associate Professor at the Xi’an Jiaotong University, who has been living in China for the past 15 years, asked the government to improve its service quality right from the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) to leave a good impression on the visitors.

"Chinese tourists have keen interest to visit Nepal. The government should focus on improving its service and work boost up its promotional programmes to sale the Nepalese destination in various cities of China," he said.

He said that there was much potential of coming investment along with tourism.

Earlier, the team has met with Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) Dr. Ganesh Raj Joshi Thursday.

On the occasion, expressing their commitment, the private sector in Nepal said that they would work together with the government to address the concerns raised by the Chinese delegation.