Visit Nepal 2020 prime focus for tourism sector in 2019

Kathmandu, December 30

The country’s tourism sector made the headlines in the local and international media a number of times in 2019 — unfortunately not for the right reasons every time.

VNY preparations

With the government observing the year 2020 as Visit Nepal Year (VNY), the entire tourism sector in the year 2019 was focused on making necessary preparations for the mega campaign that aims to bring in two million tourists into the country next year.

The preparation for the campaign formally kicked off with the setting up of a campaign secretariat in November of 2018, under the coordination of industrialist Suraj Vaidya.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) also introduced 100 new destinations for the campaign with an aim to lengthen the average stay of tourists. MoCTCA also requested all the ministries, media, local governments, industrialists, tourism associations, celebrities and other stakeholders to help make the campaign successful.

Similarly, the government also signed an agreement with Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) to promote VNY in the respective countries that NRNs are residing in at the moment. ‘Send one foreign friend to visit Nepal’ campaign was also implemented.

The campaign secretariat also decided to establish promotional centres at all Nepali embassies across the world to promote the campaign jointly with NRNA. The logo and banners of VNY 2020 were posted on local buses, subways and rail stations in Canada and the UK. Meanwhile, international celebrities were appointed as ambassadors to promote the campaign in different countries.

The government announced subsidies on expedition royalty for virgin peaks. The forest and environment ministry made preparations to provide free entrance at national parks for trekking and mountaineering enthusiasts. Likewise, Tribhuvan International Airport — the country’s sole international airport — was being upgraded into a boutique airport.

Nepal Tourism Board announced of providing language and skill training to around 2,000 taxi drivers in the valley for the convenience of tourists. Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) too said it would provide hospitality and skill training to 2,000 people involved in travel and trekking industry.

Furthermore, Nepal Airlines Corporation launched late night service at its ticket booking centre located in New Road.

Amidst this, the Nepali Army said it planned to organise year-long event in 2020. Marathon, paragliding, jungle safari, trekking, and multinational joint military Everest expedition will be organised from January to December in different districts.

Offers aplenty

With a target to attract more tourists, the private sector introduced different offers for 2020.

The Hotel Association Nepal will offer a 30 per cent discount on hotel packages. TAAN has introduced three new trekking routes close to Annapurna region and also conducted studies of five new trekking routes outside Kathmandu valley.

The TAAN secretariat also announced special discount packages on the new routes during VNY 2020. Trekking agencies will provide 20 to 30 per cent discount on trekking packages for trekkers booking packages to new destinations.

Meanwhile, TAAN members will also provide 15 per cent discount to both foreign and domestic tourists on regular trekking packages.

Likewise, the Home Stay Association of Nepal will provide 20 per cent discount on their services in 2020. The offer will be available in both community and private homestay services across the country.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Mountaineering Association, in association with the Department of Tourism, has prepared a profile of 414 peaks, including route, itinerary, height of peak, district, area, social condition of the area, and budget details for climbing.

In 2019, the number of five-star rated hotels reached 14 after the DoT provided five-star rating to Kathmandu Marriott Hotel. Likewise, there are eight four-star hotels, while there are a total of 37 three-star hotels in the country. Similarly, there are 43 two-star hotels and 33 one-star hotels currently serving tourists. Altogether now the country has a capacity of 40,856 rooms to accommodate around 2.5 million guests, as per HAN.

Visits of international personalities

The visits of renowned international personalities in 2019 is also expected to play a significant role in 2020. For instance, the visit of Xi Jinping, president of China, and Mohammad Abdul Hamid, president of Bangladesh, in 2019 is expected to attract more number of tourists from China and Bangladesh in the coming days.

Besides, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal organised the 56th Director Generals of Civil Aviation conference in the year, which saw the participation of around 400 foreign guests from 46 countries. Representatives from 14 different international organisations associated with International Civil Aviation Organisation, including European Union, Boeing, Airbus and International Air Transport Association had taken part in the event.

This event was considered as a major platform to promote Nepal and VNY campaign in 2019.

The country also hosted the South Asian Games 2019, where a large number of foreigners visited Nepal. The SAG also raised hopes of establishing Nepal as a sports tourism hub in the future.

Challenges in mountaineering

The year 2019 proved to be a challenging one for the mountaineering sector of the country, primarily as the news of fake rescue scam that was revealed by MoCTCA in 2018 continued to capture the headlines.

The government investigation had revealed that trekking companies in collusion with private hospitals and helicopter operators had been conducting fake rescue operations.

In 2019, the parliamentary committees also carried out independent probes into this issue and directed the ministry to sort it out.

Subsequently, the ministry had implemented ‘Tourist Search, Rescue, Medication and Monitoring Guidelines-2018’.

However, the concerned authorities were found to be largely ignoring the guidelines in the review year.

Mt Everest debacle

The traffic jam in Mount Everest during the spring season captured the attention of everyone in 2019.

According to the Department of Tourism (DoT), it had issued expedition permits to a total of 868 climbers for 30 different peaks. Of them, 381 members from 48 countries had received expedition permits to scale Mt Everest and among them 14 members were from Nepal.

Nine climbers died while scaling Mt Everest from the Nepal side during the spring season, with the congestion largely blamed for the deaths. Hence, DoT came under immense criticism for issuing too many permits for Mt Everest — putting profit ahead of safety of the climbers.

In its defence, DoT claimed the deaths were caused in the Everest due to the climbers suffering from altitude sickness and other health reasons. While it was reported that the department was preparing to ban expeditions on several peaks next year, the DoT had clarified that the rumours were false.

Amidst this, DoT along with other concerned authorities conducted Mt Everest clean-up campaign.

Meanwhile in autumn season, DoT issued expedition permits to a total of 1,210 climbers for 51 peaks in the country. Expeditions to five virgin peaks of above 6,000 metres — Panpoche I, Panpoche II, Hunku Chuli, Hongu and Linku Chuli — were also successfully completed in the autumn season.