Saturday, February 29, 2020

Government postpones Visit Nepal 2020 promotions abroad

 The government has finally postponed the promotional campaign of Visit Nepal 2020 (VNY2020) due to aggressive spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) across the globe.

Speaking at the Buddhist Chamunda Heritage Walk event today, minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai informed that the government was focused on promoting domestic tourism by postponing the tourism promotional activities overseas until the situation comes under control. “The government took the decision after the coronavirus outbreak that started in China spread to Europe, America, Gulf nations and the East Asian countries,” Bhattarai said, adding that the promotion of the mega tourism campaign has been postponed for a short span of time and will be resumed soon.

“Once the coronavirus epidemic is brought under control, the government will ramp up its tourism campaign promotional activities,” he promised.

The government had – on January 1 – launched the mega tourism campaign Visit Nepal 2020 aiming at hosting 2 million foreign tourists into the country. The government has also allocated Rs 100 million – in current fiscal year 2019-20 – for the campaign, though the coronavirus threat started in January in China. The coronavirus has not posed any threat to Nepal as of now as a 32-year-old Wuhan-returnee – who tested positive over a month ago – recovered from the disease after receiving treatment in quarantine.

The ministry also accepted that the target of bringing in 2 million tourists in the country will be difficult to meet because of the coronavirus outbreak.

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