“Youth Travel” Presentation by: Sweta Gurung At PATA Adventure Travel & Responsible Tourism Conference & Mart: February, 2011

Adventure Travel in Nepal Blessed due to nation’s rich and diverse natural resources, culture and traditions. Offering plethora of experiences from the lowland of the Terai plains to the high Himalayas, Adventure in Nepal is limitless.

3 Number of Tourists by Purpose of Visit

Where There Be Dragons

The Experience

Experience with the Local Community

- Dragons programs are authentic, rugged and profound learning adventures that expose the beautiful and complex realities of the countries in which we travel. -Featuring extended itineraries, Dragons programs encourage deep immersion into strikingly different physical and cultural landscapes, combining the best in experiential education, travel, service learning, and physically and intellectually challenging experiences. -Dragons participants are offered 4 to 13 week long program in Nepal where the itinerary is creatively weaved to investigate and explore the ideas of Global Citizenship, Awareness of Self and Leadership.

Adventure Travel & Young Travelers According to statistics by WTO (World Tourism Organization), current young travelers (age ) represent more than 20% of international tourists. According to the annual report of the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation(MoTCA) Nepal, the number of travelers in the age group surged by 32 percent in The data being 106,596 in 2008 and 140,805 in Young people are lured by Adrenaline pumping activities. The highlight for Dragons participants remain trekking in the high Himalayas and the culture that surrounds those mountains.

Adventure Travel & Responsible Tourism The abundance of natural resources is not be taken for granted. The myopic view on Adventure Travel needs to be shifted. Sustainability IS the buzz word today. Young travelers appreciates fun and adventurous activities. Young travelers learn from their peers and role models. These young travelers are taking physical journey to - understand the larger world and to investigate their role in that world. Responsible Tourism begins with these Young travelers. Nepal as a beautiful nation with its complex diversity offers plethora of experiences. Experiencing them with cultural sensitivity and engagement is practicising responsible tourism. As a by-product, local communities are empowered and their cultural legacy is valued. Adventure Travel can remain sustainable only when responsible tourism is weaved in.

Why We Travel? We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspaper will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globes whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again, to slow time down, get taken in, and fall in love once more. – Pico Iyer