Royal Nepal Airlines and Nepal Tourism Board are targeting Hindus from south India to Nepal in a big way by offering the 'Pashupati Darshan Package' in the tourism lean-season in August and September for a bargain IRs 8,888 which included roundtrip airfare (normal fare is Irs 12,000). Hotels are extra, but are rockbottom at IRs 3,999 per night in five-star accommodation, IRs 2,000 in four star.

NTB says there has been a 41 percent increase in Indian tourists this June compared to last year and it has a target to reaching 150,000 Indian tourists this year. Aditya Baral, tourism marketing and promotion manager of the NTB and MP Khanal of Royal Nepal Airlines were in Bangalore this week on a trip to boost tourism. They assured Indian tour operators that security was not an issue anymore.

The focus of the south Indian campaign is pilgrimage tourism with Pashupati as the main attraction. But NTB is also trying to tell Indian tour operators about the ease of accessibility of other pilgrimage spots like Muktinath, Mankamana, Lumbini and Janakpur.