KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 27

Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai has stated that the promotion of domestic tourism is one of the strategies that need to be adopted for the survival of the industry till the next year. Since the country’s tourism industry has been badly affected by the COV- ID-19 pandemic, promoting domestic tourism is a key in reviving the sector, the minister said during an event organised to celebrate 41st World Tourism Day, 2020, today.

The 41st World Tourism Day 2020 was observed today with the slogan ‘Tourism and Rural Development’ emphasising on the tourism sector’s huge potential of steering the country’s economic development to bridge the gap between the people who come from small communities and big cities.

Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) and Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) jointly organised a tree plantation programme at Manjushree Park in Chobar to mark the day. Inaugurating the programme, Minister Bhattarai emphasised on the need to promote domestic tourism and requested the stakeholders to work on this purpose.

Besides, the minister also planted various species of tree saplings on the premises of the park. He further stated that the Chobar hill could be developed as an attractive tourism destination in Kathmandu so that people living in the valley and surrounding areas could enjoy not only recreational activities but also the pleasant environment.

Bhattarai expressed his commitment to work in collaboration and coordination with the federal government and local stakeholders for the development of Chobar and to integrate it along with the development of other tourism sites in the valley.

The minister also shared his plan of launching various strategies for the revival of the tourism industry in a phasewise manner so that the negative impact of COVID-19 and the losses incurred by the businesses could be recovered.

The programme was also attended by MoCTCA Secretary Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, high-ranking officials of the ministry and representatives of NTB, among others.

Likewise, a webinar was also organised jointly by MoCTCA and NTB with tourism stakeholders in the afternoon. During the webinar, Minister Bhattarai emphasised on transforming tourism for rural development as stated in the slogan for the celebrations this year and generating employment, and earning foreign currency by implementing tourism strategies in a planned and sustainable manner.

Similarly, Tourism Secretary Adhikari shed light on the importance of the federal, provincial and local levels working in collaboration to launch the strategies in order to revive the tourism sector that has been hit hard by the COVID-19. Meanwhile, CEO of NTB Dhananjay Regmi urged the tourism stakeholders to cooperate and collaborate to overcome the challenges and build back the tourism industry for a sustainable and resilient future.