The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) is hopeful of setting-up its own marketing office in India soon after obtaining the necessary bilateral clearances. According to Subash Niroula, Officiating CEO, Nepal Tourism Board, the effort to set-up a marketing and promotion office in India has been on for the last two years. He added that the NTB is working on a two-pronged strategy in this connection. “In case of a delay in setting-up our office, we will appoint a Public Relations agency for promotional activities in India as an interim arrangement. However, that will not stop us from opening our own office,” he said. He was speaking to TravelBiz Monitor on the sidelines of the first SAARC Tour Operators Conclave held in New Delhi yesterday.
When asked about the political uncertainties and its impact on the tourism sector in Nepal in the last decade, Niroula said that although inbound figures sharply declined from 5 lakh in 2000 to 2.5 lakh in 2003, the momentum picked up as the insurgent group publicly declared their stand to not harm tourists coming to Nepal. After becoming a Republic, the government has initiated a special campaign and 2011 was declared as the ‘Tourism Year in Nepal’ and a target was set to attract one million tourists for the year. “We achieved 80 per cent of our target. We received eight lakh tourists by the end of 2011,” Niroula informed. He said that the Nepal government has brought out the Tourism Vision 2020 plan, dedicating the decade as the ‘Decade of Tourism’. The goal is to receive two million inbound tourists by year 2020. However, he said that the government is ‘cautious in its approach’ so that increasing tourist numbers do not impact the sustainability of the destination. “Therefore, we are focusing more on product diversification, professional human resource to deliver experience, hospitality, etc.,” he added.
Commenting on the challenges for promoting Regional Tourism in South Asia, he said that while borders cannot be thrown open fully, the government’s should think in terms of working with the travel trade and assigning the task of verifying the credentials of travellers to dedicated tour operators. “An officially endorsed system should be put in place.” He also advocated a ‘common acceptable currency’ for the region, cost effective travel, and promotion of niche tourism products.
Source: TavelBizMonitor
Travel and Tour in Nepal! 