Kathmandu - Nepal and Tibet on Sunday agreed to resume direct bus services between Kathmandu and Lhasa from February next year to promote tourism between the two regions.

The decision was taken during the two-day meeting between officials from Nepal Tourism Board and Tibet Tourism Administration.

Nepal-Tibet direct bus service which was stopped due to various reasons will be resumed from February next year to facilitate movement for increasing number of tourists, Songping Wang, Executive Director of Tibet Tourism Administration, said.

During the Third Joint Coordination Committee meeting, the two sides also agreed to improve air connectivity, enhance customs facilities between Nepal and Tibet, autonomous region of China.

The officials from both sides underlined the need to jointly tackle problems facing tourism sector. Wu Yinjiang, Deputy Director of Foreign Affairs Office of the Tibetan Autonomous Region Consulate Division, has said that Tibet wants to bring in more tourists from India and European countries via Nepal.

The Tibetan administration is ready to provide easy visa facility to tourists interested to visit China and Tibet via Nepal, he added.

Nepal government aims to increase Chinese quality tourists significantly during the Nepal Tourism Year 2011, when the country plans to bring in some one million tourists, Subhash Niraula, Marketing Director of Nepal Tourism Board, said.

At present, annually some 20,000 Chinese tourists travel to Nepal.

As air connectivity is the main hurdle preventing inflow of more tourists between Nepal and China, we need to increase air connectivity with various cities of China, he said.

A 10-member Tibetan Tourism delegation, which is currently in Kathmandu on a week-long tour, also met tour operators and discussed various issues relating to tourism sector.