"The amount has been demanded to launch some big promotional activities in India and China and small activities in the European countries," said Yogendra Shakya, the national coordinator of the committee.[break]
According to him, the budget allocated for three years in September 2008 was Rs 25 million out of which only Rs 3 million is unspent. The committee has decided to arrange promotional activities and advertisements in Indian cities like Deharadun and regional towns which have potential visitors rather than in big cities of India.
Once the budget is allocated the the annual budget that is likely to be unveiled in July, the committee will be in a comfortable position to finalize a major marketing plan till July 2011.
The major promotion activities will focus on Indian and Chinese markets which stand first and second largest sources of inbound tourists to Nepal. The campaign aims to lure 1 million tourists to Nepal.
To achieve the target, Nepal myust draw 33 percent more tourists to Nepal in 2010 and 2011 as compared with the tourist arrivals in 2009.
Initial three months of 2010 have shown encouraging growth of around 30 percent in tourist arrivals. "We were very excited but the indefinite strike called by the Maoists is likely to dash our hope," Shakya told Republica. The daily average arrival of inbound tourists coming through air used to be around 1600 a day but it has been drastically slashed to 500 a day after the strike, he said.
Although Maoists did not target the tourists and they allowed hotels to operate during the 7-day strike that was called off on Friday, tourists did not remain unaffected. Transport problems badly affected the tourists. Besides, they were also concerned about their security. "We could not tell tourists enquiring from abroad that ´everything is fine here´," he said.
Off season focus
The committee has decided to target international conferences to compensate the losses by the general strike through foreign tourist activities during the off season from May to September.
Shakya shared his plan to mobilize professional groups like doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, business executives and sportsmen to organize international conferences in Nepal. "Events and conferences can meet the gap during the off season and it will create future scope for a boom in tourism industry," he said.
Related story
‘The Last Jedi’ opens with $220M, 2nd best weekend all-time
