The Adventure Travel Trade Association committed to a rebuilding program for Nepal shortly after the devastating April earthquake struck. It was an easy thing to promise, but there are many steps along the way that will lead to its fulfillment. One of the biggest steps is creating the itinerary for AdventureWeek Rebound-Nepal; the other is securing funding.
This very special AdventureWeek will feature a 7 - 10 day itinerary in Nepal. It will likely be in late 2015 but firm dates are not yet scheduled. The ATTA will be looking for participants with a specific expertise or audience who will make a big impact on rebuilding the tourism industry that Nepal relies on so heavily. AdventureWeek Rebound will focus on how to promote destinations after they have suffered a natural disaster. There will be a strong educational component in the form of an AdventureEDU course dedicated to providing guidance to local operators for recovery. The program will actively help rebuild the adventure travel industry in Nepal while offering guidance and instruction for the future.
Like other successful ATTA AdventureWeek programs, Rebound-Nepal will be a FAM trip created especially for select adventure buyers and media and will feature a MARKETPLACE showcase of local operators. However, this trip will be volunteer-based and participants must be willing to pay their own way to Nepal. The goal is to make sure that no costs will be incurred by the local operators in Nepal and that any proceeds get reinvested into Nepal’s tourism infrastructure. ATTA staff is volunteering their time for all of the administrative and logistical support work related to planning this program.
Tourism Cares, the charitable arm of the travel and tourism industry, has stepped up to become the first funding partner of AdventureWeek Rebound-Nepal. Their contribution will go towards paying for the AdventureEDU course at the end of the program.
If you are interested in helping, your funding will go toward offsetting any operational costs incurred by local Nepalese businesses who want to participate or allowing the ATTA to support participating media and hiring of a storytelling team to document the program for further reach. The program needs funding at many levels, so if you are interested in learning more about becoming a funding partner of AdventureWeek Rebound-Nepal, please contact us at [email protected]. The application / registration process will open in a few months.