Kathmandu, November 11

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has allocated Rs one billion for the development and promotion of the 100 new destinations identified by the government. A meeting held at the ministry today allocated the budget issuing a 13-point guideline to the concerned authorities.

Out of the total allocated budget for the current fiscal year, Rs 500 million has already been distributed to the concerned local units in the first phase. The remaining budget will be distributed only after evaluating the work progress of the destinations, as stated by Rudra Singh Tamang, spokesperson for MoCTCA.

“Most of the local units have not submitted their work progress of the last fiscal year. So, for this fiscal we have put a condition of providing the remaining amount only after evaluating the work progress of the first instalment of the budget,” he said.

To receive the remaining amount, concerned local units have to submit both physical and financial progress reports to the ministry. After that the ministry will evaluate the reports and if it is satisfied then only will the local units will receive the remaining amount for their destinations.

“With the allocation of the budget for this fiscal, we have also requested the local units to submit last fiscal’s work progress report,” Tamang added. However, there has been no deadline set for the submission of progress report of the last fiscal. Meanwhile, for this fiscal the ministry has said that respective local units have

to submit their financial reports to MoCTCA every month, while the physical reports have to be submitted every quarter of the fiscal year.

He further said that the ministry is compiling the overall report of the 100 destinations. After the report compilation, a team from the ministry will go for field observation to observe the progress of the tourist destinations. MoCTCA had distributed Rs 500 million to local units in the previous fiscal.

“This time, the ministry itself will conduct field observation to evaluate the work progress of tourist destinations,” Tamang said, adding, “Financial progress will also be inspected strictly.”

Moreover, the guideline issued by the ministry has stated that the local units have to prepare a masterplan for the development and promotion of their destinations. Likewise, the budget can only be utilised for the selected destinations and if the local units are unable to spend the entire allocated budget, they will have to return the remaining amount to the ministry.

Aiming to attract more tourists in the country, MoCTCA had unveiled the destinations last year from all 77 districts. The identification of new destinations within the country is also aimed at developing and promoting them as destinations so that tourists extend their stay in the country as well as to promote domestic tourism.