KATHMANDU: The government is set to observe “Visit Nepal Decade” to accelerate the tourism sector.
According to the Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Suresh Adhikari, the government has decided to celebrate the “Visit Nepal Decade” to revive the tourism sector which has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adhikari said that the Council of Ministers has decided to celebrate the decade from 2023 to 2033 as the “Visit Nepal Decade”.
The government had declared 2020 as the Visit Nepal Year and set the target of bringing in two million tourists into the country during that year.
The Visit Nepal Year campaign had to be suspended due to the COVID pandemic.
The country’s tourism sector has gradually started to pick up momentum after the Covid pandemic subsided.
The government has announced the Visit Nepal Decade aiming for speedy revival of the tourism sector.
Its objective is to increase the arrival of foreign tourists and promoting tourism by observing the Visit Nepal Decade through coordination and collaboration with the private sector.
The Ministry has made public the tourism revival action plan. It has stated to celebrate the Visit Nepal Decade, but what programmes are to be carried out during the decade has not been revealed.
The foreign tourist arrival was around 1.2 million in 2018 and 2019 prior to the COVID-19.
Nepal Tourism Board’s data shows 230 thousand 85 foreign tourists had arrived Nepal in 2021.
The Ministry had declared observing the ‘visit decade’ in the tourism recovery program it made public after the COVID-19 pandemic.