Nepal tourism board along with the Facebook page Nepalese in Photography organized a competition, asking all their followers “What is ghumphir for you?” Sujan Subedi, coordinator for Photo Nepal and a senior officer at Nepal Tourism Board, said that this was organized to honor #Ghumphir2073. 2073 has been declared the year of ‘ghumphir’ in order to promote internal tourism in the country.
“When we organized the monthly photo exhibition many people were curious if they would just be an audience or if they could also get a chance to participate and contribute in some way. By organizing this contest, we were able to interact with our audience,” Subedi said.
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There were about 250 photos submitted for the contest, out of which the tourism board selected the top 50 to exhibit. All 250 submitted photos can be viewed online. There was a panel of three judges, including director Sunil Sharma who decided the top 50.
Nepal tourism board is also organizing a “Visit Nepal 2017” initiative in European countries and although this contest isn’t quite related to it, Subedi says that they hope the photos will help entice people and make them want to visit Nepal.
“Many of the photos we received were of landscapes throughout the country, but some of the people submitted small things that we don’t really think about while passing by them every day. But these were the pieces which reminded us that ghumphir doesn’t really mean we have to travel far and wide. Even walking along the streets with historic ruins can be considered as ghumphir,” Subedi concluded.
