Saipal Rural Municipality has held an executive meeting at the base camp of Saipal Himal. The rural municipality has organized a meeting in the lap of the mountain with the aim of promoting tourism in the Saipal area.

Announcing the launch of the ‘Ghumau Saipal’ campaign, the rural municipality organized an executive meeting for the first time at the base camp on Sunday. A team including all the people’s representatives, employees, and security personnel of Saipal Rural Municipality had reached Saipal for the meeting. The southern base camp of Saipal Himal is about a day and a half’s walk from Kanda, the center of Aulagad Rural Municipality.

The executive meeting has decided to organize the ‘Saipal Conference’ at the base camp this year with the participation of the Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Board, Sudurpaschim Province Government, local levels, various travel and trekking companies, organizations working in the field of tourism, tourism entrepreneurs, and tourism experts. ‘Tourism is the basis of Saipal’s development.’ Therefore, we have decided to organize a conference at the base camp to promote tourism, biodiversity and its potential in the national and international arena,' said Saipal Rural Municipality Vice-Chairwoman Dolma Tamang, informing about the decision taken by the executive meeting. 'We have tried to develop the conference as a common place for stakeholders to discuss and debate the possibilities of Saipal.' She informed that the municipality has started preparations to hold the 'Saipal Conference' every year.

Similarly, Tamang said that the executive meeting also decided to establish a tourism information center at Samdeu, the entry point of Saipal Rural Municipality, build additional infrastructure to make the movement of tourists easy and safe, develop the capacity of hotels and homestays on the Saipal Himal trekking route, and formulate homestay operating procedures and guidelines by determining a menu of food based on local products.

The 7,31-meter-high Saipal Himal region, a major tourist destination in the Far West Province, has not been able to catch the eye of tourists despite its abundant potential for mountaineering and mountain trekking. Rural Municipality Chairman Manvir Bohara says that the municipality is trying to make this area, which has beautiful mountain ranges, valuable herbal reserves and cultural diversity, the best ecotourism destination in Nepal.

‘The municipality has been working since the beginning to connect the biological, ecological, cultural and geographical diversity here with tourism.’ Bohara said that tourism infrastructure construction work was done in the previous year and now it is time to invite tourists. He said, ‘Now it is time to explore the participation of the private sector and other stakeholders in Saipal’s tourism.’ For that reason, we have decided to organize the Saipal Conference.