Kathmandu, June 14 The government has allocated Rs 100 million for Visit Nepal Year (VNY) 2020 campaign for next fiscal year, which is just one-fifth of the Rs 500 million sought by the campaign committee. The allocated funds of the campaign next fiscal is the same as that for this fiscal. The VNY Campaign Committee had asked for Rs 400 million for this fiscal and has said that the shortage of funds has resulted in delays in launching the campaign. The VNY Campaign Committee is conducting a lot of activities at the moment, including upgrading Tribhuvan International Airport into a boutique airport, promoting destinations, nightlife in Kathmandu Valley, heritage sites, among others. However, the campaign is likely to face shortage of funds if all the planned activities are to be carried out. Meanwhile, Deepak Raj Joshi, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), has said that the government has committed to provide additional budget to the campaign in coming days if required. “Indeed the allocated amount is much less than what the campaign committee had requested for but the government has pledged to provide additional budget in case of funds shortage,” he said, adding, “It is the government’s project, so it won’t be affected due to the government.” He further said that NTB will soon announce its budget for next fiscal year and will allocate funds for VNY campaign. Likewise, for provincial level activities, the VNY Committee will coordinate with the provincial governments and the budget will be handled by the provincial governments themselves. “The budget will be managed somehow, so there is no need to worry,” Joshi said, adding, “All the authorities will work together to make this campaign successful.” At the moment, the VNY Committee is busy holding meetings with stakeholders and conducting promotional campaigns. The major target of the campaign is to bring two million tourists in 2020 and thereafter. With the slogan of ‘Lifetime Experience’, the committee has not only focused on the year 2020, but beyond that. Among others, the VNY Campaign Committee is planning to promote 20 new destinations, installing Namaste Information Centres at several places inside the Valley, building required infrastructure in tourist destinations and conducting promo-tional campaigns in various countries. Similarly, the Campaign Committee has been claiming that it is conducting digital marketing, whereas it does not even have its own website. It has an official page in several social networking sites though. VNY Campaign Committee Coordinator Suraj Vaidya was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts made by The Himalayan Times.