Nepal Tourism Board, the Chinese embassy in Nepal and Pokhara Metropolitan City have joined hands to organise the first-ever Nepal-China Friendship Dragon Boat Race Festival in Pokhara.

The two-day event will begin on June 23.

This is the first promotional event being organised in the country after more than three years, to attract Chinese tourists.

According to a notice issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, starting from March 15, the national travel agencies and online travel companies are allowed to resume, on a pilot basis, outbound group tours for Chinese citizens to relevant countries.

Dhananjay Regmi, chief executive officer of the Nepal Tourism Board, said that the event would help Nepal attract Chinese tourists. “As June marks the beginning of off-season tourism in Nepal because of the monsoon, these kinds of events will help Nepal’s tourism industry attract tourists round-the-year.”

The Dragon Boat Race has been held in more than 50 countries and has entered the Asian Games and Olympics as well. The event is the first of its kind in Nepal.

The race will have eight teams from Nepal, China and Singapore participating in 200 metres and 500 metres races in Phewa Lake.

Eight boats crafted especially for Dragon Boat Racing and other necessary items arrived in Nepal earlier this week through the Kerung border and have already reached Pokhara.

Similarly, participants have reached Pokhara and have started training in Phewa Lake.

The China Dragon Boat Association is providing technical assistance and coaching to the participants in the competition.

The competition will be followed by cultural performances and food exhibitions from both countries.

Wang Shin, the deputy chief of mission of the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu, said that Pokhara is a very popular destination among the Chinese visitors. “Some Chinese tourist guidebooks even list Pokhara as one of the top 10 places in the world to see.”

“With the opening of the new Pokhara International Airport, the event is expected to be a milestone in highlighting Pokhara globally as a world-class premier holiday destination,” said Wang.

“We are trying to get charter flights for the event. If everything goes as planned, regular flights from China to Pokhara will commence soon.”

In March, Beijing allowed its citizens to travel to Nepal as tourists after more than three years.

Following the reopening of China, Nepal received 4,770 Chinese tourists in April, the highest since March 2020. In May, the Chinese tourist numbers stood at 4,667 individuals.

In 2019, Nepal received a record 169,543 Chinese tourists. When the Chinese economy started to boom, Nepali investors started building luxury hotels that started to multiply.

The boom, alas, turned to bust almost as fast. The Covid-19 pandemic came, and all the Chinese tourists were gone in a flash.

Their numbers fell to 19,257 in 2020. As many as 6,198 and 9,599 Chinese tourists arrived in Nepal in 2021 and 2022, respectively—comprising mostly diplomats and those who had got stranded in third countries.