KATHMANDU, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of Chinese trekkers arrived in the Nepali capital on Thursday, bringing hope to Nepal's tourism hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We're happy and delighted to welcome you on the eve of our New Year," Sudan Kirati, Nepal's minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation, said at the inauguration ceremony of the eight-day Poon Hill trekking event at the airport in Kathmandu.
"Nepal and China have a long history of friendship," the minister said. "We want to take our relationship to a new height."
He voiced appreciation for China's move to list Nepal among the countries to which outbound group tours for Chinese citizens are resumed on a pilot basis.
The 180 Chinese tourists arrived in Kathmandu on a Himalaya Airlines charter flight, and they are the first of four batches of nearly 1,000 Chinese trekkers to land on the Poon Hill trail located some 270 km west of Kathmandu.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song called the move to list Nepal as a destination for group tours one that shows China's good feelings toward Nepal and the great emphasis placed on promoting bilateral cooperation on tourism.
The arrival of the Chinese trekkers means China-Nepal cooperation on tourism has been restarted in an orderly manner and people-to-people exchanges are ushering in a new beginning, Chen said.
Referring to the fact that China had become the second largest source of tourists for Nepal before the pandemic, the ambassador voiced hope that the resumption of outbound group tours by China will give impetus to the recovery and development of Nepal's tourism industry, a key generator of foreign reserves and jobs for the country.
An Wei, a doctor from Shanghai, chose Nepal as her destination on her first post-pandemic trip abroad because Nepal is "a paradise for trekkers" and "a place I have been longing for."
