KATHMANDU: Various tourism agencies have joined hands to revive the tourism adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic by organizing ‘Nepal Bicycle Tour’.

The Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN), Nepal Mountaineering Association (NAM) and Nepal Association of Tours and Travel Agents (NATTA) organized the event in promotion of the Nepal Tourism Board.

The Nepal Bicycle Tour group began the tour from NTB’s office at Bhrikutimandap in Kathmandu.

NTB CEO Dr Dhananjaya Regmi saw off the cyclists on Monday who will be cycling from the Mahendranagar in the western part of the country to Pashupatinagar in the east.

Cyclist and Everest summiteer Pushkar Shah will coordinate the bicycle tour.

The team will cycle through Thakurdwara, Nepalgunj, Birendranagar, Ghorahi, Swargadwari, Tauhihawa, Bhairahawa, Butwal, Tansen, Pokhara, Narayanghat, Hetauda, Birgunj, Lalbandi, Janakpur, Gaighat, Dharan, Biratnagar and Kakadvitta covering as many as 1,624 kilometers during their three-week long sojourn.

NTB member Deepak Mahat said the bicycle tour would help breath a new life into the COVID-19-affected tourism industry and promote the message of the Board throughout the country as the cyclist pedal through the length of the country.

The tour will reach up to Pashupatinagar in Ilam. The team will return Kathmandu after three weeks. The cyclists’ team comprises Rajendra Sapkota, Shankar Adhikari, Mukti Pandey and Subhash KC among others.