President Dr Rambaran Yadav will inaugurate the campaign declaring the opening of the NTY. Likewise, Prime Minister Madav Nepal will hoist the national flag to mark the ceremony, which Nepal Tourism Board says will be participated by 25,000 foreign as well as domestic dignitaries.[break]
"Secretary of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and tourism ministers of nine countries, including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Pakistan and Maldives, among others, will grace the formal launching of NTY 2011," said NTY Program Coordinator Yogendra Shakya.
Nepal is celebrating NTY with a slogan "Together for Tourism" and the private sector service providers have unveiled different programs at individual as well as regional level to attract and better serve the tourists.
The opening ceremony will feature a glimpse of various cultural processions and programs, which will reflect natural beauty and cultural richness of Nepal. More than 6,000 people including schoolchildren, Nepal Army and Armed Police Force and Nepal Police personnel will perform at the ceremony.
On the occasion, a ´Peace Flame´ brought from Lumbini -- the birth place of Buddha -- will be lighted in a replica of Mt Amadablam. Nepal Mountaineering Association has also sent a 10-member group to light the NTY torch at the summit of Mt Amadablam.
The event will also feature Tharu Food Festival and air show at Tundikhel. Similarly, Asian Tourism Ministers´ Conclave is also being held to mark the event on Friday evening.
The government has set a target to bring in one million tourists during 2011. To achieve the target, Nepal would need to almost double the number of tourist arrivals. In 2010, 450,000 tourists visited Nepal via air.
Ranjan Krishna Aryal, joint secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, said that there is a fair chance of Nepal meeting the target, especially as the volume of tourists entering Nepal via land too stands at around 300,000.
Aryal admitted that the focus of NTY is simply on quantity. "We have not reached the stage to look for quality tourists," he told Republica.
He said that it could take some time to see the impact of NTY promotion and it will gradually increase the number of arrivals in coming years. "A formal launching of NTY 2011 is just the beginning of tourism promotion," he added saying that different promotional activities will be held throughout the year.
The government has allocated Rs 230 million for NTY 2011 and has already released Rs 120 million.
This is the second time Nepal is hosting tourism year to boost tourist arrivals. The country had marked 1998 as Visit Nepal Year during which 463,684 tourists visited the country.
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