Miscellaneous
'Nepal: Back on Top of the World'
The National Tourism Recovery Committee (NTRC) on Monday launched its promotional logo and slogan—Nepal: Back on Top of the World— in a bid to revive the tourism sector which was knocked out by the April 25 earthquake.The National Tourism Recovery Committee (NTRC) on Monday launched its promotional logo and slogan—-Nepal: Back on Top of the World—in a bid to revive the tourism sector which was knocked out by the April 25 earthquake. The new logo and slogan was unveiled by Tourism Minster Kripasur Sherpa on Monday.
The NTRC has asked the Finance Ministry for Rs600 million in emergency funds to carry out tourism promotional activities, promote trekking routes and conserve cultural heritage sites.
Last July, the government had formed a 36-member high-level national committee led by Tourism Minister Kripasur Sherpa to bring Nepal’s tourism industry, which had been badly hit by the deadly tremors, back on track.
As per the plan, Rs334 million has been set aside for Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketing, or promotional campaigns through the media and other means of electronic business activities that will have a direct consumer outreach. The NTRC has focused its marketing strategies on India, China, US, UK, Japan, Germany and the French-, Italian- and Spanish-speaking markets.
Yogendra Sakya, coordinator of the NTRC, said that tourist confidence is building up gradually to visit Nepal. As the country had received around 800,000 tourists last year, it would take at least two years for it to attract the same numbers of visitors, he said.
However, travel trade entrepreneurs lamented the ongoing political crisis stating that various violent activities in different part of the country could affect the industry, which is on the path to recovery.
“The earthquake had changed visitor perceptions towards Nepal. However, when the market had just started to recover after the disaster, the political crisis has emerged as a major setback,” said senior tourism entrepreneur Basant Raj Mishra.
He added that strikes and bandas had been taking a toll on the industry and that political commitment was needed to end them.