Nepal's Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali (C) attends the launching ceremony of the International Mountain Tourism Day and Mountain Tourism International Forum in Kathmandu, Nepal, on May 29, 2019. The International Mountain Tourism Day was launched in Kathmandu on Wednesday with the aim of arousing public awareness about protecting mountain resources and preserving mountain civilization and public responsibility for promoting mountain economy to benefit the community of mountain people. (Xinhua/Sulav Shrestha)
KATHMANDU, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The International Mountain Tourism Day was launched in Kathmandu on Wednesday with the aim of arousing public awareness about protecting mountain resources and preserving mountain civilization and public responsibility for promoting mountain economy to benefit the community of mountain people.
The annual conference of the Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA), a non-government, non-profit international organization in 2018 approved the proposal of initiating the International Mountain Tourism Day on May 29.
The IMTA said that it chose Nepal as the destination for holding International Mountain Day as the country is one of the most representative countries in the world for mountain tourism and hosts half of the world's 14 tallest mountains.
Nepal's Minister for Foreign Affairs Pradeep Kumar Gyawali launched the day in a function in Kathmandu.
During the launching ceremony, the participants stressed on preserving the mountains for their sustainable use, saying that the mountains are the spiritual homes of the mankind.
Mario Hardy, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), said all should follow the law of nature and cherish the mountains and promote their sustainable use at a time when climate change is affecting the mountains.
Nepali stakeholders said that preservation of Nepal's mountain was also important for its everlasting use to attract tourists and economic wellbeing of the Nepali people as the country hosts many of the world's tallest mountains. They expressed enthusiasm on the choice of Nepal as the country to launch the day at a time when Nepal is organizing Visit Nepal Year 2020.
"The launching of the International Mountain Tourism Day would help promote Nepal as important tourism destinations," Deepak Raj Joshi, chief executive officer of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the main tourism promotion body of Nepal, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
"The important figures from different travel trade organizations from around the world have committed to promoting Visit Nepal Year which is an important achievement for Nepal."
On the same occasion, the Mountain Tourism International Forum (Nepal) was also launched under the theme "Ecology, green, science and technology lead the high quality development of mountain tourism."
