It was evident in the just concluded Himalayan travel mart (June 1 to June 4) held in Kathmandu under the aegis of the Pacific Asia Travel Assosiation (PATA) where 250 representatives from 50 odd countries participated.

Gateway to the mighty Himalayas, Kathmandu provided perfect setting to the international event where experts from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, among others, deliberated ways to give fillip to tourism, specially adventure tourism in areas like mountain climbing, para gliding etc.

A star attraction in the mart was a special session on international travel bloggers where young men and women specializing in travel writings in the social media participated in a big way. They exchanged notes on how to push travel and tourism trade in today's digital world. According to a young blogger from India, the conventional media space was shrinking as it was giving way to fast growing social media around the world.

Indeed, PATA conference on bloggers came in for appreciation from all the participants who felt it was time to exploit the social media for promotion of tourism.

President PATA (Nepal Chapter), Mr Suman Pandey , in his speech exuded confidence on the upswing of tourist traffic in Nepal in the years ahead, thanks to love and awe for the mighty Himalayas. He said Nepal's infrastructure was picking up in terms of hotels for all sections of tourists, road and air connectivity.

Indeed, one could see Kathmandu administration busy in road widening and laying of massive drainage pipes even as traffic rush made the task cumbersome. The dusty streets and crowded market places were an obvious dampner to tourists coming for leisure and recreation. "This had to be done to make the city better and tourist friendly", said Parbati Pandey of Hotel Landmark at Pokhra. She was confident that the Nepal Government would provide better road infrastructure in course of time.

Air India CMD, Mr Ashwani Lohani, was given a standing ovation in the PATA conference. He was the keynote speaker. On his part, Mr Lohani promised all help to push tourism in Nepal. He spoke of introducing flights to Kathmandu from various cities of India.

Nepal Airlines and Nepal Tourism Board officials put up their best foot foreward to assure foreign tourists that all facilities would be provided to them. On their part, foreign participants in the conference felt assured that no destination served adventure tourism better than Nepal, thanks to Himalayas.