KATHMANDU, Aug 17: Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) is preparing a budget of around Rs 1.5 billion for the current fiscal year 2019/20.
The national tourism authority of the country will table the budget for discussion in its board of directors this week, according to Deepak Raj Joshi, the CEO of Nepal Tourism Board.
NTB had brought a budget of R 1.75 billion in the last fiscal year.
Interestingly, NTB is downsizing its budget even though Nepal is celebrating Visit Nepal Year 2020 in this fiscal year.
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According to Joshi, NTB will focus Middle-East, Europe, US, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand in the coming fiscal year. "Tourist arrivals to Nepal fall during off-season i.e. June to August and December to February. Our focus will be on bringing tourists to these months as well," he added. "We will focus on soft adventures during monsoon."
Apart from neighboring markets India and China, Joshi said Nepal will put more emphasis on bringing tourists from long-haul markets like Europe and the US.
NTB plans to promote Nepal's pleasant weather and climatic conditions in the international market. “Usually, winters are cloudy and dark in most countries. Here, we mostly have sunshine during winter,” Joshi said. "We will focus on promoting this specialty of our country."
He also added that NTB will give continuity to 'Winter is Warm' campaign in the Chinese market. “China has long holidays during winter. Our target is to bring more Chinese tourists during this season,” he Joshi added.
Meanwhile, NTB also plans to focus on digital promotion in the current fiscal year. "We will give continuity to our international marketing and promotional plan with a special focus on digital promotion," he said, adding that NTB will organize various programs in different tourist generating markets in partnership with Nepali missions and diaspora.
"We will also be organizing media from trips. This year, we will be bringing more media representatives and tour operators targeting Visit Nepal Year 2020,” said Joshi.
