Submit your Article

The Hotel Association of Pokhara has organized the Phewa Festival from today. The tourism festival organized on the eve of the Nepali New Year 2082 BS will run till April 14.

The hotels in Pokhara are offering 20 percent discount to the tourists visiting the Lake City as part of the 20th Phewa New Year Festival-2082. 

Association President and Festival Coordinator Laxman Subedi said that the Bisket Jatra of Bhaktapur will be a special attraction in the Festival this time. The Bisket Jatra is a typical traditional cultural festival mostly celebrated in the ancient Newar town of Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu Valley.

The Phewa Festival will showcase the original culture of 11 districts of Gandaki Province. Musical programmes including the performance of the typical 'bhajans' and 'ratyauli' are also included in the festival. 

Entry to the festival will be free and the event will be held on the three-kilometre road from Khaharechowk to Damsite in Pokhara.

Tourism, culture and food will be the main attraction of the festival, according to the organizers. The festival will feature the province-level indigenous and traditional cuisine, presentation of cultural programmes, recreational sports programs  and tourist race competitions. The Badminton Cup is a new attraction this time.

Nepal Tourism Board Gandaki Province and Pokhara Metropolitan City are the promoters of the festival.

At present, the occupancy of tourists in Pokhara hotels is 60 percent and it is expected to reach 90 percent on the occasion of the Festival, said Subedi.

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has made a profit of Rs 9.55 billion in the fiscal year 2024/25. This information was shared in the Corporation's 43rd Annual General Meeting on Friday. 

In the last fiscal year, the corporation imported petroleum products worth Rs 356.72 billion and sold the same worth Rs 364.52 billion. 

The corporation has sold petroleum products worth Rs 383 billion in the previous fiscal year 2023/24.

The state-owned corporation, which has a monopoly on import and sale of petroleum products, has been facilitating the supply of petroleum products across the country.

With the arrival of spring, mountaineering activities in Nepal have picked up momentum. According to Leeladhar Awasthi, the Information Officer at the Department of Tourism, a total of 381 climbers from 41 groups have been granted permission to climb various mountains between March 1 and April 9. The department has granted permits for 15 different peaks.

Awasthi told ApEx that a total of Rs 245.2m has been collected as royalty fees for mountain climbing permits. Among the climbers granted permission, 297 are men and 84 are women.

As always, Sagarmatha remains the main attraction for climbers. This season too, it has attracted the highest number of climbers, with 134 people from 14 groups receiving permits to climb the world’s highest peak.

Awasthi noted that during the same period last year, only three groups had obtained permits to climb Sagarmatha. This year, Rs 201.6m has been collected just from Sagarmatha climbing permits. According to the department, the highest number of permits for Everest has been issued to climbers from the United States (42), followed by China (19) and India (17).

Altogether, climbers from 57 different countries, including Nepal, have received mountaineering permits. Among them, only two climbers are Nepali. The highest number of permits—69—has gone to American climbers, followed by 51 from India and 43 from China. The department reports a highly encouraging increase in climbers for the first mountaineering season of 2025.

Currently, the department is issuing around five climbing permits per day, Awasthi added. In 2024, a total of 296 teams undertook mountain expeditions, including 46 teams for Everest alone. Of the Rs 780m collected in royalties last year, Rs 600m came from Sagarmatha permits alone, he said.

On Wednesday morning, an avalanche occurred at the Everest Base Camp, the world’s highest peak. Awasthi said the avalanche hit the Khumbu Icefall area, located between the base camp and Camp I. Due to the avalanche, climbers who were working on fixing ropes have been unable to proceed. Around 1,000 meters of fixed rope have been buried, along with four ladders. Awasthi stated that the situation is currently being monitored, and due to wind speeds of up to 35 km/h, the weather has turned unfavorable. He also mentioned that there was heavy snowfall on Tuesday.

The price of gold has reached an all-time high in the domestic market on Thursday, setting a new historical record.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Traders, the price of gold has increased by Rs 3, 900 per tola to reach Rs 185, 000 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 181, 300 per tola on Thursday.

Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1, 905 per tola.