Kathmandu : Rehan Shrestha has been announced as the ambassador for the First International Pink Tourism Conference.

Similarly, content creator and blogger Parakram Rana and woman entrepreneur Dr.Mausam Bohara have been announced as the star promoters for the conference that is taking place on April 20-21.

Earlier, Shrestha also was appointed the ambassador for the Visit Nepal 2020. For promoting the event, blogger Lex Limbu has been already appointed the star ambassador for the conference.

The conference is a collaborative effort between Mayako Pahichan Nepal, a non-profit organisation advocating for the rights of the sexual and gender minorities, and the Nepal Tourism Board.

As a successful woman entrepreneur, Dr Bohara is expected to play a supportive role in promoting the pink tourism.

On the occasion, Dr Bohara asked people to come together to make the event a success while Rana considers Nepal as a friendly country for sexual and gender minorities. “Nepal is a safe country,” she said, “I invite you to come here (Nepal).”

Sunil Babu Pant, Asia’s first openly gay former parliamentarian of Nepal, and also executive director for the Mayako Pahichan Nepal, expects the conference to play an important role in Nepal’s tourism.

Pant, who is the pink tourism Cultural Ambassador for the Nepal, expressed the hope that Nepal’s gross domestic product would be boosted through pink tourism.

Maniraj Lamichhane, the NTB director, emphasised the importance of the conference saying travel companies have shown interest after training 24 people from the sexual and gender minority communities as trekking guides with the financial support of UNDP. The trained people have already taken up jobs.

Registration for the First Rainbow Tourism Conference is open

Rubik Joshi, Managing Director of the ride sharing company in Nepal, Tootle, expressed his pleasure for giving him an opportunity to participate in the pink tourism.

Sahara Khadka, the Director of Pink Tiffany, lauded the protection and promotion of the sexual and gender minority communities by organising the First International Pink Tourism Conference.

Author Devdutt Pattanaik, and Paromita Vohra, Founder of Agent of Ishq will be the keynote speakers in the conference. The conference is expected to support the livelihood of the sexual and gender minorities in the country through tourism, said Pant.

Registration for the conference has already been open. Interested people can register at https://www.mayakopahichan.com/participate. Applications have been received from South Asian countries, the United States and the United Kingdom, said Mayako Pahichan Nepal.

Nepal has recognised the sexual and gender minorities by legally registering same-sex (rainbow) marriage, the first of its kind in South Asia. The Constitution of Nepal has also guaranteed the rights of the communities.