Nepal mulls over resuming tourism campaign in India

Kathmandu: Nepal government is mulling over resuming the tourism campaigns after a hiatus of one year in the aftermath of the receding Covid-19 epidemic.

According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), Nepal is planning to participate in a South Asian travel mart slated to be held in New Delhi and Mumbai of India in March 2021.

The month of March marks the gap of one year since the government suspended all international tourism-related campaigns to bring in at least 2 million tourists in the country after Visit Nepal 2020 was badly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NTB has set aside an estimated budget of Rs 10 million to gear up the tourism campaign mainly in the Indian towns.

The Board has also plan to reach Bangladesh and China, the other two neighbouring countries for the same campaign as tourists are expected to arrive from these countries in large numbers given that the tourism infrastructure is ready to welcome them.

The NTB Chief Executive Officer Dr Dhananjaya Regmi also informed that similar campaigns are unlikely for Europe. However, he said promoting tourism through virtual sessions will be continued.

He also reiterated that the mandatory policy to enforce arriving tourists to stay in quarantine should be relaxed to revive the collapsing tourism sector.