Rs 500 million sought for Visit Nepal 2020
Published On : 22 July, 2019 6:33 pm
The office of the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign has asked for Rs 500 million from the government.
According to the campaign Coordinator, Suraj Vaidya, the office has sought an extra budget of Rs. 500 million, as the government allocated budget of Rs 100 million is insufficient.
“This year, the government has allocated Rs. 100 million but it was insufficient,” Vaidya said, adding that the total budget allocated by the government was merely enough to cover the salary and wages of employees. “Therefore in order for the campaign to be a success, the extra sum is necessary.”
As there are various programmes planned and scheduled, the extra budget is instrumental in making the Visit Nepal 2020 Campaign successful, he added.
The government had allocated Rs. 300 million budget for the Nepal Tourism Year 2011. Vaidya said that the value of Rs. 300 million is equivalent to Rs. 1 billion currently. Due to focus on Sports Tourism also during the VNY 2020, more budget is required, Vaidya said.
Apart from Sports Tourism, the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign office is also planning to organize Investment Summit for the tourism sector. “We shall be announcing the Nepal Tourism Investment Summit formally shortly,” he said, adding that the office is also planning to promote Nepal’s culture, traditions, and topography internationally.
The government has set a goal of hosting 2 million tourists in the year 2020. In 2018, the country had attracted 1.17 million tourists. The number of tourist in 2018 increased by 25 percent compared to a year ago. But increase in the number of tourists has failed to generate its expected earnings as the tourists had cut down on their expenditures.
According to the recent report of the Ministry of Tourism, a tourist spent an average of $44 in 2018 compared to $54 in 2017. Likewise, the average stay of tourist has also decreased from 12.6 to 12.4 days.