Kathmandu, April 17

As there are only three months left for the current fiscal year 2018-19 to end, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) has started preparing programmes for the budget of next fiscal year. As the country is hosting Visit Nepal Year (VNY) 2020 campaign, the budget for fiscal year 2019- 20 will be more focused on the campaign.

The VNY campaign was announced in 2018 by the government targeting to bring two million tourists in 2020.

Besides international arrivals, the ministry will also focus on domestic tourist oriented programmes, said Ghanashyam Upadhyaya, spokesperson for the ministry. “Domestic tourism has been rising in recent years and to address the demands of domestic tourists we are designing a few programmes by coordinating with concerned authorities,” he said.

The ministry is designing programmes to be included in the upcoming fiscal budget based on the 15th five-year national plan, he added.

As per Upadhyaya, the budget for next fiscal will be basically spent on giving continuity to programmes launched in the current fiscal. “We will utilise the budget that is allocated to us in the next fiscal on destination development and promotion,” he said, adding, “Works related to promoting the 100 tourist destinations identified by the government will be given continuity.”

Moreover, we will also focus on promoting the Himalayan trekking trail, developing infrastructure and creating a tourist friendly environment, he stated.

In order to prolong the stay of tourists, the ministry had unveiled 100 new destinations in all 77 districts on November 2.

The selected destinations have been handed over to the local governments for preservation and promotion. Meanwhile, promoting new destinations for trekking and hiking will be another focus in the tourism budget, Upadhyaya added.

“The Gautam Buddha International Airport will begin operations from next fiscal year and the progress of Pokhara International Airport is also satisfactory,” he said, adding, “Similarly, upgradation and maintenance works in other airports including Tribhuvan International Airport are also going on and we will continue those works.”

Upadhyaya said that the ministry has always been criticised for not achieving its targets related to infrastructure development, so that aspect will be given priority too.

The government had allocated a budget of Rs 5.2 billion to the tourism ministry in the current fiscal year, however till the first quarter the ministry had spent only 20 per cent of the total allocated amount. “We will try to fully utilise the budget that is allotted to us in the next fiscal year,” Upadhyaya added.