Ten Ambassadors for VNY 2020

The year 2020 has been chosen as national tourism year of Nepal after the year 2011 which was the primary authority tourism year of new Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The government and tourism department of Nepal authoritatively reported that Nepal will take year 2020 as “Visit Nepal Year 2020 (VNY-2020)”, a year committed to tourism industry of Nepal with vision of making a reasonable brand picture of Nepal as travel and vacationer destination, backing up the tourism foundations of Nepal, enhance the growth of tourism industry, and enhance local tourism as a supportable industry.

The government of Nepal has planned to welcome over two million visitors during “Visit Nepal 2020”.  For this the government is starting various programs, collaborating with different organizations, in and out of the country, and appointing many renowned faces as goodwill ambassadors to promote “Visit Nepal 2020” in various parts of the world. They are illustrated as follows.

Xu Qing

Xu Qing also known as Summer Qing is a Chinese actress born on 22 January 1969. She is appointed as the goodwill ambassador for China. She made her first film debut in 1990 by acting for “Life on a String, directed by Chen Kaige. In 1992 she was nominated for the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress for her performance in “Ripples across Stagnant Water” In the same year she also acted in the television series of “At the Foot of The Imperial City” which earned her a good reputation in China as an actress. This was followed by her acting in the television series of “Laughing in the Wind” in 2001.

Xu won the Audience’s Choice for Actress award at the China TV Golden Eagle Award for her good performance in spy drama-The Chinese Woman at the Gunpoint of Gestapo” in 2003. Xu in 2009 acted in the Chinese historical film known as “The Foundation of a Republic” that won her the best-supporting Actress award. Xu in 2012 acted for a character as the wife of Bruce Will’s character in the 2012 American film Looper. In 2013 Xu won the Huading Award for her performance as the best drama actress for A Dreamlike a Dream.

Um hong-Gil

Um hong Gil is a South Korean mountaineer born on September 14, 1960, in South Korea. He and his team have completed the expedition of the 14 peaks higher than 8,000 meters in altitude within 12 years. He is also considered as the first South-Korean person to reach the summit of the 16 highest points on earth.

He was awarded the Himalayan Crown when he completed the summit of the 14 highest peaks in 2001. He is the first South Korean and the eleventh climber in the world to hold this distinction. He led successful expeditions of the Everest in 1988, 2002 and 2003 and has climbed both the North and South Sides of the Everest. On December 13, 2007, he succeeded in reaching the summit of Vinson Massif, the highest peak of Antarctica.

The film the Himalayas, directed by Lee Seok Hoon, was based on Um’s real story and starred Hwang Jung-min in the role of Um. Um Hong-Gil is invested with many charitable organizations like the Beautiful Foundation, Um Hong-Gil Foundation, and also started the program “Gil Sarang Fund” to support the cultural activities for handicapped people.

Joyce Azzam

Dr. Joyce Azzam is appointed as the goodwill ambassadors of Visit Nepal 2020 for the Middle East. She is the first Lebanese woman to have climbed 28 mountains around the world including the Seven Summits. Born during the Lebanese Civil War in Beirut, Lebanon in Azzam’s family and she were deeply affected by the war and had to flee her home many times. Her love for mountains sparked when she was a teenager.

Her love for the outdoors unleashed a passion to research innovative approaches to protect and conserve cultural heritage sites specifically Cultural Routes & Landscapes. She has three Master’s degrees, first in Interior Architecture from the Lebanese University, second in Governance Models & Management of Local Public System from the University of Perugia, and the third one in Conservation of Historic Cities and Buildings from La Sapienza University of Rome. And, also she has a Ph.D. in Landscape and Environment from La Sapienza University of Rome.

After being appointed as the ambassador, Azzam presented her views on how to make Nepal Visit Year 2020 a grand success. She said that Nepal can take a lot of benefits from the Middle East and also said that she will spread the message to the world that Nepal is a safe country for women tourists.

Joanna Lumley

Joanna Lamond Lumley is an English actress, comedian, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ‘Fabulous (1992-2012)’, and was nominated for the 2011 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the Broadway revival of La Bete. She received the special recognition award at the National Television Awards and in 2017, she was honored with the BAFTA Fellowship award.

Lumley’s other television credits include The New Avengers (1976-77), Sapphire & Steel (1979–82), Sensitive Skin (2005–07), and Jam & Jerusalem (2006–08). She has also appeared in many movies like the wolf of Wall Street, Corpse Bride, and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Etc.

Lumley is also an advocate and human rights activist for Survival International and the Gurkha Justice Campaign. She supports charities and animal welfare groups, such as Compassion in World Farming and Vegetarians’ International Voice for Animals. She is also patron of Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity and the Farm Animal Sanctuary. She is also known as the ‘daughter of Nepal’ in Nepal.

Éric Valli

Éric Valli is a French photographer and a film director born in 1957 in Dijon, France. He specializes in mountain scenery and is an expert in the Himalaya Mountains. He directed the movie, Caravan, about survival in the Himalayas starring Thinle Lhondup became the first Nepalese film to be nominated for the best foreign Film Award at the Oscars.

He has also shot a short documentary with Diane Summers on the Honey hunters of Nepal documenting honey hunting by the Gurung tribesmen of west-central Nepal. The use of various indigenous tools under very dangerous conditions to collect the honey is shown in the documentary. Valli has also received 3 World Press Awards for his work Chasseurs de Miel (1988), Chasseurs des Ténèbres (1991), and Les enfants de la poussière.

Johan Ernst Nilson

Johan Ernst Nilson is a Swedish explorer popularly known as an ‘environmental explorer’ because of his interests in environment and climate-related issues. Born on the 4th of August in 1969 in Stockholm, Sweden, Johan has completed 28 expeditions in around 100 countries. He also gives lectures, motivation, and environmental awareness when he is not on expeditions. He finished his project “Seven Summits Climate Neutral” in 2008 and has been collaborating with Respect Climate.

After his first Neutral Everest Expedition, Nilson was elected as a Swedish President of the Everest Summiteers Association (ESA), and a member of the explorers club. He received the Medal of Honor from the Swedish Church in 1996. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and has received the Orden of Amaranter, The Royal Orden founded by Queen Krinstina.

Jaya Prada

Jaya Prada is an Indian film actress and politician. Born on 3 April 1962, Prada has starred in many Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi films. She had been one of the most influential and successful actresses in both Hindi and Telugu film history and ruled the silver screen in the late 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s in both Hindi and south Indian movies.

She left the film industry at the peak of her career and entered politics by joining the Telugu Desam Party in 1994. She was a Member of Parliament from Rampur from 2004 to 2014. She has been considered by many as the most beautiful face to grace Indian cinema, one of them being Satyajit Ray who called her “the most beautiful face on the Indian screen.

Some of her memorable films include Anthuleni Katha (1976), Seeta Kalyanam (1976), Adavi Ramudu (1977), Yamagola (1977), Sanaadi Appanna (1977), Siri Siri Muvva (1978), Sargam (1979), Kaamchor (1982), Kaviratna Kalidasa (1983), Sagara Sangamam (1983), Tohfa (1984), Sharaabi (1984), Maqsad (1984), Sanjog (1985), Aakhree Raasta (1986), Simhasanam (1986), Sindoor (1987) , Samsaram (1988), Elaan-E-Jung (1989), Aaj Ka Arjun (1990), Thanedaar (1990), Maa (1991), Devadoothan (2000), Pranayam (2011), and Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna (2012).

She won the Filmfare Award for the Best Actress- Telugu for her performance in Sagara Sangaman and Filmfare Special Award for her performance in Siri Siri Muvva and Anthuleni Katha (1976)

Shivkrupanand Swami

Shivkrupanand Swami is an Indian spiritual teacher, author, and Goodwill Tourism Ambassador of Nepal. Born on 8 November 1954, he runs Samarpan Meditation Foundation and is known for Samarpan Meditation and meditation workshops that he runs for free in India, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other countries. During his visit to Nepal, he met Shiv Baba who paved his way towards spirituality.

One day a Guru came to his house and took Shree Shivkrupananda Swami to the Himalayas, where he met sages, ascetics, and yogis, which helped him in obtaining spiritual knowledge from them. Swami learned about the meditation technique as a way for the soul’s path to liberation and established Ashrams in many places. In April 2015, Shivkrupananda Swami conducted am 8-day Samarpan Dhyanyog Meditation Camp for the Indian Parliamentarians and in 2016 he conducted Samrpan Meditation Workshops in Sri Lanka.

Omar Samra

Omar Samra is a worldwide adventurer, entrepreneur, and speaker. He is the first Egyptian to climb Mount Everest, the 7 Summits and ski to both the Geographic South and North Pole also called the Explorers Grand Slam. He is one of 40 people to achieve this title. He has been selected for NASA’s PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) program along with 2 other Egyptians.

Born on 11 August in London, Samra moved to Cairo and finished schooling at El Alsson School, graduated from the American University in Cairo in 2000 with BA in Economics and minor In Business Administration, and got an MBA degree in Entrepreneurship from London Business School in 2007. His expedition trip to Mount Everest began upon the completion of his MBA in March 2007 and lasted for 9.5 weeks. Samra then went back to Cairo to work in the field of Emerging Markets Private Equity.

Hiromi Ishoika

Hiromi Ishoika is a social activist, a Guinness book of world record holder, and a goodwill ambassador of Visit Nepal 2020 for Japan. He created a world record by constructing the world’s biggest drum on 1 January 2001. Since 2003 he has been carrying out various social works in Nepal.

A constructor by profession, Ishoika has been currently working on the construction project of Bio-Toilet around the Pashupatinath area and in other parts of Nepal.

According to him, Nepal has a huge possibility of Tourism. As Nepal is celebrating Visit Nepal 2020, and Japan is hosting an Olympic in the same year, according to him we should all work together to make these events a huge success. Ishoika is expected to attract a lot of youngsters from Japan to travel in Nepal during the Visit Nepal 2020.