KATHMANDU: The organising committee

of Nepal Tourism Year (NTY 2011) has come up with a three-phase programme for the

promotion of and preparations for NTY 2011.

“The first phase of preparation of NTY 2011 was its formal launch which was successful,” said NTY 2011 national

coordinator Yogendra Shakya. “Now, the second phase will

be capacity building and product development; that is, improving the capacity of air transport plus ground transport as well as expanding the accommodation facilities.”

“Finally, the third phase will be promotion and marketing under which promotion of NTY 2011 will be organised,” he said adding that for capacity building the government has already started expansion of domestic airlines and that the homestay facility can augment the accommodation infrastructure.

As for product development, he said, “Along with organising events that will promote tourism, NTY 2011 committee will also endorse those events that bring in more than 200 international tourists to Nepal in 2011. For this, financial aid will be provided.” He added, “For domestic tourism promotion, the events being held outside Kathmandu which can guarantee the participation of more than 500 people will also receive financial support.”

He clarified that the

events and activities can be anything from sports competitions to conferences of

professionals like doctors, engineers and so on.

When asked how the government will tackle the problems of pollution, lack of security and infrastructure for tourism before and during NTY 2011, Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Sharat Singh Bhandari replied that people should not dwell on negativity but instead should have a positive outlook. He said, “Since the formal launch of NTY 2011, lots of people who were indifferent to tourism earlier are showing interest in making this campaign a success. In the psyche of the common people, that in itself is a very important step towards identification of tourism as a major economic activity.”

He admitted that the

publicity and promotion of NTY 2011 in foreign countries has to be worked on.