Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, has drawn 276,620 tourists in the two months of January and February, accord­ing to the Lumbini Development Trust. This is almost 100,000 fewer tourists than in the first two months of 2017, when 376,600 visitors had come to Lumbini.Of the 276,620 tourists visiting Lumbini this year, 223,016 were Nepalis, 24,095 were Indi­ans while 29,509 were from other countries, according to the trust’s information officer Rajan Basnet. While the number of Indian tour­ists increased slightly this year, the number of Nepali tourists went down considerably. The number of tourists from other countries also declined. According to Basnet, tourists from over 50 countries have already visited Lumbini this year. In this period, besides India, Thailand has sent the most number of foreign tourists (7,928) to Lumbini, followed by Myanmar (6,689), Sri Lanka (5,733), China (2,821) and South Korea (1,406).

Tourist arrival had suffered in 2016 because of the twin effects of the earthquake and the blockade. It picked up steam in 2017 only to slow down this year. “Most tourists to Lumbini come via the Nepal-India border. Although their primary destination is Lumbini, they don’t stay here overnight,” said Achyut Guragain, vice-chairman of Nepal Tour and Travels Asso­ciation. “That’s because they come here with Indian guides, who tell them that although Buddha was born here, other significant places associated with his life all are in India.

As a result, local businesses haven’t been able to flourish as much as they would if the tourists stayed here longer.”

 By Salman Khan  

Weekly Editorial Cartoon 

KATHMANDU: For the very first time in its cricket history, Nepal has won the one-day international (ODI) status for the next four years. 

Nepal has been assured of the ODI status after it beat Papua New Guinea by six wickets and the Netherlands defeated Hong Kong by 44 runs in the ICC World Cup Qualifier held in Zimbabwe last Thursday. 

With this, Nepal would get to participate in different tournaments organized by ICC while ICC's support to Nepal's cricket would be further increased. 

RSS

Bidya Devi Bhandari elected as Nepal president for second term

A Bangladeshi plane with 67 passengers on board crashed near Kathmandu airport Monday as it was coming in to land, officials said, as firefighters battled to extinguish the burning wreckage and rescue passengers.

Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the football pitch where the plane crashed, to the east of the runway at Nepal's only international airport, in the capital Kathmandu.

"There were 67 passengers and 4 crew members" aboard the plane, said airport spokesman Prem Nath Thakur.

"So far 20 injured have been taken to the hospital. Police and army are trying to cut apart the plane to rescue others," he added.

AFP

Update: 

There were 33 Nepalis on board the aircraft, according to TIA officials. Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has visited the airport following the crash and took stock of the situation.

The real reason for the crash is yet to be ascertained. Eyewitness accounts suggest the crash may have been caused in the course of an aborted landing. The airport has been indefinitely closed.

Update: 

46 people are now confirmed dead. Of them, at least 13 are Nepali nationals.

The TIA that had been shut down earlier has been opened, according to Rastriya Samachar Samiti.  

For the names of all those on board the aircraft go to:

http://annapurnapost.com/news-details/93119

‘Udhyami Nepal’, a business guide portal for Nepali entrepre­neurs, was launched this week by Bikas Udhyami in partnership with the National Youth Coun­cil. The portal aims to provide aspiring and existing entrepre­neurs business information and to connect skilled workers to companies.

The launch program, attended by Vice-Chairman of National Youth Council Madhav Dhungel, also saw the launch of an e-book titled, ‘Social Entrepreneurship in Nepal: Stories of Young Entre­preneurs Changing the Way Busi­ness is Done.’  

Growth Sellers is organizing its annual HR Meet on March 19 and 20. With the ultimate goal of developing and empowering human capital, the theme of the event is ‘HR can change, HR can drive’. The event looks to empha­size the importance of human resources to bring about a posi­tive change in the organization.

The two-day conference will feature prominent international and domestic speakers speaking on HR issues. Tanaya Mishra, managing director of HR of Accenture, and NS Iyer, former HR head of Asian Paints Ltd (India), are the keynote speak­ers, who will be delivering their sessions on ‘The Design Think­ing Way’ and ‘Employee Engage­ment’ respectively.  

Century Commercial Bank Ltd (CCBL) has this week signed an agreement with Sanima Life Insurance (SLI) for ‘Bancassurance’ services.Jeevan Bhattarai, acting chief executive officer of CCBL, and Keshav Raj KC, deputy managing director of SLI, signed the pact.The agreement enables CCBL to sell life insurance policies to its customer from its branches across the country under the arrangement with SLI, according to a press release.