Pokhara Street Festival kicks off

POKHARA, Dec 29:

With New Year just around the corner, the 15th Pokhara Street Festival kicked off Sunday at Lakeside, Pokhara to bid farewell to year gone by. Restaurant and Bar Association of Nepal (REBAN) has been organizing the street festival in Pokhara every year with the aim of attracting domestic as well as foreign tourists.

Finance Minister Shankar Prasad Koirala inaugurated the festival that will continue till January 1. Tourism entrepreneurs have said the festival has become very good medium to promote Pokhara as a tourist destination.

Festival coordinator Balaram Pahari told Republica that the festival has contributed a lot to promoting tourism in Pokhara. “The festival has helped growth of tourism in Pokhara. Lakeside which wears a deserted look during the off-season turns into a happening place due to the street festival,” he said.

Pokhara Tourism Council Chairman Suryabahadur Bhujel told Republica that such festivals help prolong the stay of tourists in Pokhara during off-season. Stating that the tourism sector has been facing a lot of problem s, Bhujel also urged the government to resolve them.

“Transport cartel is one of the major problems. This has cost the tourism industry dearly,” he said, adding, “The government should step in to resolve this problem.”

According to REBAN-Pokhara President Gopi Bahadur Bhattarai, the annual festival has been successful in recent years in attracting domestic tourists to Pokhara. “We expect to bring around 400,000 tourists this year. Most of them would be the domestic tourists,” he said.

Source: Republica