Pokhara to host Phewa New Year Festival for Tourism Revival 

Kathmandu. The ’17th Phewa New Year Festival’ is to be organized in Pokhara with the objective of preserving Nepali culture and promoting food.

The festival will be held on the main road from Fishtail  Gate at Lakeside to Halanchowk from April 13 to 14 under the slogan ‘Tourism, Culture, and Food’, said the organizing hotel association Pokhara at a press conference in Kathmandu on Thursday.

Chairman of the Hotel Association and coordinator of the festival Laxman Subedi said that the festival is being held to revive the tourism sector which has been weakened by the Covid-19 epidemic.

After the postponement of the last two editions of the festival due to Kovid-19, the festival is being organized on a three-kilometer open road with novelty.

While the English New Year is celebrated with pomp and circumstance in the main cities of Nepal, the aim of the festival is to preserve its original culture by promoting it to celebrate the Nepali New Year with the same joy.

According to the organizers, various cultural programs including live music, folk singing and comedy will be conducted on stage at Ambot and Center Point on the occasion of the festival.  Various sub-committees have been formed under the coordination of Hotel Association Pokhara Chairman Subedi to make the festival grand.

 On the occasion of the festival, the association will give 30 percent discount on the published rates of the member hotels. The association had recently launched ‘Aaun Hai Pokhara Abhiyan’ in Butwal, Hetauda and Birgunj to promote domestic tourism.

Annapurna Cable Car Pvt. Ltd. and Tuborg bear of Gorkha Brewery Pvt. Ltd. are the main sponsors of the festival. More than six organizations including Pokhara Tourism Council will support the festival.

Acting Chairman Shah said that the upcoming inquiry for the upcoming season was encouraging and conveyed the message that it is good for tourism in the days to come. According to Chairman Subedi, there are currently 1,200 hotels in Pokhara ranging from tourists to five-star hotels.

Entrepreneurs also say that necessary infrastructure is being added for the management of foreign tourists coming from Pokhara Regional International Airport, which will be operational in the near future.