Kathmandu, July 18: The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has approved a budget of Rs 1.59 billion for current fiscal year 2025/26. A recently held meeting of the executive committee of the Board passed the budget for current fiscal year, said Coordinator of Budget Formulation Sub-Committee, Rishi Ram Bhandari.
The budget and programme of the Board has a target of establishing Nepal’s image in international tourism community by developing safe, reliable and attractive tourism destinations, he mentioned.
Bhandari shared, “The Board has set a target of making overall tourism sector dynamic by increasing tourist arrival at least by 15 per cent in current fiscal year.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Board, Deepak Raj Joshi, mentioned that the budget was focused on the areas and programmes making significant contribution in tourism promotion.
The budget would be useful for creating employment opportunity and sustainable development of tourism sector by increasing national production and foreign exchange earnings through development, expansion and promotion of tourism business, he opined.
The Board would organise promotional programmes in at least 50 source markets, to produce additional 5,000 human resources for tourism business and protecting 25 new tourism infrastructures for tourism expansion in current fiscal year.
Out of total budget, 70 per cent would be spent for international marketing for service expansion of the Board and establish an office in India. India is the major tourism source market of Nepal and more than 400,000 tourists visited Nepal from India in 2024.
