The government has formally suspended the much ambitious Visit Nepal Year 2020 (VNY2020) project in the wake of the Covid-19 global pandemic, though tourism minister had earlier notified informally about suspending the year-long-event till April.
Though the government has a month ago stopped all the promotional activities in and out of the country due to corona pandemic, a Cabinet meeting two weeks ago – on March 22 – has decided to suspend the campaign, according to tourism secretary Keshav Bahadur Adhikari. “I received a notice yesterday regarding the stalling of the project,” he said, adding that the VNY secretariat will also be dissolved on April 13. Twitting the cabinet decision, the secretary confirmed the government move.
Though tourism minister Yogesh Bhattarai has been claiming of observing ‘Visit Decade’, in lieu of the Visit Nepal Year plans, the Cabinet has not yet decided anything on the new plan.
The government had announced 2020 as the Visit Nepal Year with an aim of hosting 2 million tourists. But Nepal – like other countries – has gone into a nationwide lockdown, for two weeks starting March 24, to control spreading of the global pandemic that has already claimed around 40,000 lives. The lockdown has been extended until April 7 midnight.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had – on March 1 – instructed Tourism Ministry to postpone the Visit Nepal Year 2020 but the high-level committee for the control and prevention of Covid-19 – led by deputy prime minister Ishwar Pokhrel – decided to halt only the campaign until April, which has led to the confusion among tourism entrepreneurs.
Planned to revitalize tourism industry after the earthquakes of 2015, the VNY2020 campaign was supposed to re-brand tourism, apart from doubling the contribution of tourism in the economy.
Earlier, the Policy and Programmes for the fiscal year 2016-17 announced the launch of Visit Nepal Year 2018, the Tourism Ministry was forced to postpone the 2018 campaign to 2020 due to the slow pace of road and airport upgradation, apart from reconstruction of historical monuments and cultural heritage sites damaged by the devastating earthquake.
Though, a new strain of coronavirus was detected in Wuhan of China, one of the major source countries for Nepal’s tourism, late December, the first case of the virus was reported in Nepal in January. The case was declared recovered.
Though the government has a month ago stopped all the promotional activities in and out of the country due to corona pandemic, a Cabinet meeting two weeks ago – on March 22 – has decided to suspend the campaign, according to tourism secretary Keshav Bahadur Adhikari. “I received a notice yesterday regarding the stalling of the project,” he said, adding that the VNY secretariat will also be dissolved on April 13. Twitting the cabinet decision, the secretary confirmed the government move.
Though tourism minister Yogesh Bhattarai has been claiming of observing ‘Visit Decade’, in lieu of the Visit Nepal Year plans, the Cabinet has not yet decided anything on the new plan.
The government had announced 2020 as the Visit Nepal Year with an aim of hosting 2 million tourists. But Nepal – like other countries – has gone into a nationwide lockdown, for two weeks starting March 24, to control spreading of the global pandemic that has already claimed around 40,000 lives. The lockdown has been extended until April 7 midnight.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had – on March 1 – instructed Tourism Ministry to postpone the Visit Nepal Year 2020 but the high-level committee for the control and prevention of Covid-19 – led by deputy prime minister Ishwar Pokhrel – decided to halt only the campaign until April, which has led to the confusion among tourism entrepreneurs.
Planned to revitalize tourism industry after the earthquakes of 2015, the VNY2020 campaign was supposed to re-brand tourism, apart from doubling the contribution of tourism in the economy.
Earlier, the Policy and Programmes for the fiscal year 2016-17 announced the launch of Visit Nepal Year 2018, the Tourism Ministry was forced to postpone the 2018 campaign to 2020 due to the slow pace of road and airport upgradation, apart from reconstruction of historical monuments and cultural heritage sites damaged by the devastating earthquake.
Though, a new strain of coronavirus was detected in Wuhan of China, one of the major source countries for Nepal’s tourism, late December, the first case of the virus was reported in Nepal in January. The case was declared recovered.
No comments:
Post a Comment