Kathmandu, May 24

Stakeholders of the tourism industry have recommended the committee of Visit Nepal Year (VNY) 2020 campaign to go beyond the regular destinations. As the country has been selling the same old destinations over the years, this campaign has to promote new destinations in the market, entrepreneurs said during a meeting held today, which was led by Tourism Secretary Mohan Krishna Sapkota.

Speaking at the meeting, Ambica Shrestha, chairperson of Dwarika’s Hotel and Resort, suggested the VNY committee to conduct programmes and introduce unique products that could entice tourists to spend more. “Currently, our policies and programmes are more focused on number of tourists than the earnings from tourists,” she said, “It is an apt moment now to go beyond old destinations and bring new products.”

Wildlife tourism, meditation and yoga are some products yet to be promoted as tourism products in our country. So, VNY must promote these products in the international market, she added. Shrestha further suggested the committee to take initiative to preserve the originality of tourist destinations. “A few quality tourists who can feel the true nature of our destinations is a lot better than a huge crowd of people coming to destroy the real identity of the destinations.”

Likewise, Ang Tshering Sherpa, former president of Nepal Mountaineering Association, suggested the VNY committee to work on promoting mountains for climbing and trekking. Rather than commenting on the congestion in the mountains, Sherpa urged the committee to cooperate with the tourism ministry to manage the system and policy. “The VNY committee should not only focus on programmes for 2020. It rather has to go beyond that and work for sustainable development.”

Besides, stakeholders have recommended promoting Nepal as a shopping destination as well as for sports tourism. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs have also said that VNY committee should work with the public so that every individual promotes VNY as their own campaign rather than just as a government campaign.

Responding to the stakeholders, Tourism Secretary Sapkota, assured them that the government would address their suggestions to make VNY campaign successful. “We are putting all our efforts to make this campaign successful. So, we will be improving our works by addressing the suggestions of the private sector,” he said. He further said that the major objective of this campaign is to implement programmes for sustainable development of the tourism industry. Generating jobs and assuring tourist safety and security will be the objective of the campaign, he added.

The soft launch of VNY campaign was held on April 13.