Nepal launches trekking trail for disabled, elderly

Nepal has launched its first “accessible” trekking trail in Pokhara city for the disabled and the elderly.The trail was inaugurated as a part of a three-day international conference on Accessible Tourism’ held for the first time in the Himalayan country from March 29 to March 31.Nepal’s Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari inaugurated the 1.3km section of the 14km long hiking path in the ridge connecting Sarangkot to Naudanda areas, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the main tourism promotion body of Nepal, said in a statement.“The trail offers a magnificent view of Mt Annapurna, Mt Fisthtail and Mt Manaslu Himalaya range,” it said.The NTB, one of the organisers of the conference, built the trail with the local trail development committee. It said that the trail would enhance the prospect of attracting a strong segment of disabled and elderly tourists’ population to Nepal. The trail is well endowed with proper signage and has an accessible washroom.“The concerned authorities have pledged more support in the coming fiscal year that will begin in mid-July this year to lay down all the standards and facilities to establish the trail as ‘probably the best’ and ‘leading trail’ in Asia,” the NTB said.During the inauguration, Minister Adhikari said the trail could be a benchmark of Nepal’s commitment to tourism and his ministry would look into this to establish it as a model trail in Nepal.The NTB said the initiative was taken to add innovation in product and to diversify the tourism trails to generate greater interest among visitors and to ensure that no one is left behind in experiencing the magnificence of Nepal’s beauty.‘Accessible tourism’ is an emerging concept to ensure that tourist destinations, products and services are accessible to all people, irrespective of their physical limitations, disabilities or age. The global tourism off late has witnessed a major boom in accessible tourism.The estimated population of the accessible segment is 1bn in the world and considered as rapidly growing and one of the niche and high-end segment in tourism, according to the NTB.