President Dr Ram Baran Yadav will inaugurate the event that will also include formal closure of Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011 campaign. [break]
Gyanin Rai, chief of Lumbini Development Trust, Kathmandu Office, said the target of VLY 2012 was to introduce Lumbini as birthplace of Lord Buddha and to mobilize funds from international sector for overall development of Lumbini area.
Around 628,000 people, including 128,000 third-country tourists, visited Lumbini in 2011. Government has allocated Rs 130 million for VLY campaign.
“We plan to place hoardings of Lumbini in more than 100 places from Mechi to Mahakali,” he said, adding that billboards of the campaign will also be placed at Tribhuvan International Airport and other domestic airports.
“We´re expecting one million domestic and foreign tourists in Lumbini during the year,” added Rai.
A press statement from Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said the Visit Lumbini Year campaign was a major linkage between NTY 2011 and Tourism Vision 2020, as it serves to sustain the achievement of NTY 2011 and improve livelihoods of the people through tourism as envisioned in Vision 2020.
“Successful completion of NTY 2011 has clearly given two messages to the world. The first one is that Nepal has come to peaceful and stable situation after a decade long political uncertainty; and another, tourism has been unanimously regarded as a vehicle of economic transformation,” the statement added.
Tourist arrivals to the country during NTY increased by 22.1 percent as compared to arrivals figures of 2010.
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