KATHMANDU, Jan 13: Leading US daily The New York Times has included Nepal in its list of ´52 Places to Go in 2014´.
Nepal features in the 45th position in the list.
Cape Town of South Africa, Christchurch of New Zealand, North Coast of California, Albanian Coast of Europe and Downtown of Los Angeles are the top five destinations in the list. Rio De Janerio of Brazil had topped the list year.
Chennai of India is the only other entry from South Asia in the list. The coastal city features in the 26th position.
The list publishes the list every year in the second week of January. Last year, the daily had published a list of 46 destinations to visit.
“This Himalayan kingdom is the mother lode of alpinism, home to eight of the world´s 10 highest summits (including Everest). So when a Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation subcommittee recommended last September that Nepal will allow access to 165 new peaks in the Kanchanjunga massif this year — 13 of them above 23,000 feet — the world´s mountaineering community was aflutter,” the daily writes. “Even so, the proposal is significant since it is the first such release in a decade. If the approval process progresses as expected, the territory will open for the spring season.”
Madhu Sudan Burlakoti, joint secretary of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) said that Nepal has been able to join the list mainly because of the announcement of 165 new peaks of which six are above 8,000 meters. “Besides, the development in tourism infrastructure and opening of new tourist destinations as well as trekking routes are the other reasons,” added Burlakoti.
Source: My Republica