Kathmandu, June 7

The International Relations and Labour Committee of the Legislature-Parliament has directed the Visit Nepal Year (VNY) 2020 campaign committee to submit its progress report and also its work plan for the coming days.

The House panel’s meeting held today has directed the committee to submit its progress report and also its future plans.

The government announced the VNY 2020 campaign with a target to boost the country’s tourism industry.

According to the parliamentary committee, a letter has been sent to the campaign committee and Nepal Tourism Board (NTB). “VNY 2020 campaign will play a significant role for the development of the country’s tourism industry. So, in order to support the campaign, we have called a meeting with NTB CEO Deepak Raj Joshi and Coordinator of VNY 2020 campaign Suraj Vaidya,” informed Dipak Prakash Bhatta, member of the committee.

He further said that the progress report received from the campaign committee will be analysed by the parliamentary committee and it will take needful action.

Meanwhile, Pabitra Niraula, chairperson of the House panel, said that a provincial level sub-committee will be formed to visit the 100 tourist destinations introduced by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

“We will form a sub-committee in cooperation with the provincial governments and the sub-panel will be deployed to visit the 100 tourist destinations,” she said, adding, “The sub-committee will have to examine the situation of the destinations and submit the report to the committee.”

Niraula further said that the sub-committee will conduct promotional campaigns related to VNY 2020.

“In order to make this campaign successful, we will be putting an effort from our level to form work plans and implement them,” she added. She further stressed on making the VNY 2020 campaign successful at any cost.

Meanwhile, the snail-paced progress of the campaign is blatantly visible.

Earlier, Campaign Coordinator Vaidya himself had admitted that a lot of things remain to be done but the time is limited. Moreover, the campaign is also being criticised for focusing on the same products as in the previous years.

Even stakeholders of the tourism industry have recommended the campaign committee to go beyond the regular destinations. As the country has been selling the same old destinations over the years, this campaign has to promote new destinations in the market, entrepreneurs have emphasised.