22 Jul 2020 HYN Himalayan Yoga Academy
The good news as Nepal’s International Airport will start operating on September 1. With the government announcing to resumption of all international and domestic flights from September 1, the Ministry of Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation today said that it would allow all tourism-related activities, including mountain climbing in the autumn season.
With the latest announcement, the tourism fraternity believes that the industry, which incurred a loss of over 10 billion rupees a month during the COVID-induced nationwide lockdown, would gradually return to a new normal.
“The ministry plans to resume all tourism-related activities by following health and safety protocols from September 1,” the ministry’s secretary, Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, said, adding that safety protocols are being finalized by holding consultations with stakeholders concerned.
Cabinet Decisions
According to the Cabinet decision, flights will be resumed in three phases. In the first phase, flights will be operated to the destinations that are less affected by COVID-19. After that, gradually, flights will be operated to other destinations in the second and third phases. During the initial period of flight resumption, all airline companies will not be allowed to operate all their aircraft at once. Permission to operate aircraft will be given based on the destination and the number of passengers.
“MoCTCA will coordinate with the Ministry of Health and Population for the safety of the passengers travelling via commercial flights if any health issue does arise.”
Dr. Samir Kumar Adhikari, Joint-Spokesperson at the Ministry of Health and Population, said that the ministry would soon come up with new guidelines on handling of the arriving air passengers after August 17.
“All passengers who plan to arrive here on charter or repatriation flights until August 16 should go to quarantine centres,” Adhikari said, adding that passengers of the scheduled commercial flights must show their PCR report to enter Nepal thereafter.
Nepal Tourism Continuation
The Department of Tourism is all set to issue climbing permits for the autumn season after the government decided to resume domestic and international flights. “Climbing activities in the autumn season and onwards will go on,” DoT’s Spokesperson Meera Acharya said.
Tourists observing snow covered mountain range from Poon Hill at Annapurna Rural Municipality-6, in Myagdi district, on Tuesday, October 23, 2017.
According to her, the department has already started preparing necessary guidelines for climbers and trekkers who plan to visit Nepal after August 17. “DoT will also issue Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for agencies to run autumn climbing and trekking activities in the autumn season,” she said.
Iswari Poudel, Vice-President at the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, said that trekking and expedition operators were ready to resume climbing activities following safety protocols in the autumn season. “Most of the agencies will run expeditions on Mt Manaslu and Mt Ama Dablam, among others, once the flight operation resumes,” Poudel, whose company ‘Himalayan Guides’ runs expeditions on different mountains, said.
Senior Vice-President at Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, Navin Trital, said that mountaineering and trekking activities would resume in the autumn season. “We have been receiving queries from the world’s mountaineers who want to join autumn expeditions here,” Trital, also Managing Director at Expedition Himalaya, added.
Mingma Sherpa, Chairperson at Seven Summit Treks, said that his company would also run expeditions on different mountains, including Mt Manaslu in the autumn season. “We are ready to run expeditions following safety protocols,” the record-holding climber added.
Rishi Bhandari, Managing Director at Satori Adventures, claimed that a clear guideline was needed to resume tourism and adventure activities in the autumn season.
Yoga Courses and Retreats Continuation
Himalayan Yoga Academy will also commence its yoga teacher training courses and yoga retreats. Due to this uplift in the Travel Ban, now people may travel to Nepal to do their 200-hour yoga teacher training or 300-hour yoga teacher training in Nepal. We are also opening singing bowl teacher training and Reiki levels training. We are commencing with proper precautions and under the rule of the Government.