CHITWAN, DECEMBER 20

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Badri Prasad Pandey, has said that a new policy on tourism is at final stage in the making.

Talking to journalists here today, he said, 'There was no new tourism policy after the country adopted the federal structure. The draft of the new policy has reached the final stage and discussions are being held with the stakeholders on this.'

According to the Minister, preparations are also being made to draft the Tourism Act along with the policy. He added that the Ministry is preparing to celebrate the Visit Nepal Decade from 2025 to 2035.

'The thematic committee at the Ministry has held its second meeting on this topic. The committee has deliberated on transforming the tourism sector, increasing possibilities in tourism, creating employment through tourism and on expanding tourism sector's contribution to the country's economy,' Minister Pandey added.

Stating that the Ministry is moving ahead on policy reform, he said it will take some time to see the results of this.

The Minister shared on the occasion that two bills have reached the Council of Ministers for splitting the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) into two separate bodies- a service provider entity and a regulatory entity.

He also stated that home work is on regarding addressing the problem seen in the Nepal Airlines Corporation.

As he said, works are being carried out to operate seven Twin Otter aircraft in seven provinces by the Corporation. The national flag-carrier is operating flights in all the provinces using a single Twin Otter plane at present.