By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Dec. 29: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai said on Sunday that the government has ensured safety to the tourists round the clock.
"Tourists are safe in Nepal. The government has set-up 24-hour facility that will respond to the tourists' call," he said while talking to the journalists at the 'Gorkhapatra Sambad', a weekly dialogue of the Gorkhapatra Corporation.
He said that although the MoCTCA was the lading agency in executing the VNY2020, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Communication and Information Technology were putting their efforts to make the tourists' stay pleasant.
"The government had given a written direction to all the ministries in terms of making the VNY a success. Concerned ministries have ToRs as well," said Bhattarai.
Besides, the successful visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Bangladeshi President Abdul Hamid and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and organisation of South Asian Games have sent a strong message that Nepal is safe, and our security agencies are competent enough to protect our guest.
The national campaign aims at developing hundreds of new tourism destinations during and after the VNY, bringing in 2 million foreign tourists, enhancing the tourism sector contribution to the economy to 10 per cent from present 3 per cent and increasing the share of tourism in employment.
"We aim to increase the tourism sector contribution to the economy to 10 per cent from current 3 per cent. Per day expenditure average of a tourist in Nepal is US$44 now which should be increased to $80,"said Bhattarai. "Our aim is to draw about 3.5 million tourists annually after five years. New products and destinations will be developed, and more promotional activities would be implemented for Nepal's branding at the international level in order to achieve the goal," he added.
Saying that the capacity of the Tribhuvan International Airport would reach a saturation point, he urged all concerned stakeholders to support in developing the Nijgadh Airport at the earliest.
He said that some people had imagined a disastrous situation if the airport was built. "Its just their fantasy. We will cut as few trees as possible at Nijgadh and create even bigger forest somewhere else as well," he said.
He also said that felling of 2.5 million trees was just a rumour. The government has initiated a study which will give the exact number of trees needed to be cut down.
"Tourism sector development is constrained due to the single Tribhuvan International airport. About 7.2 million passengers annually come to this airport. Nepal has 13 per cent yearly growth of air passengers against the global average of 7 per cent," he said.
TIA need to cater its services to 9 million passengers in the next two years which is the saturation point for it. Therefore, the government has given priority to the development of new regional and international airports in Bhairahawa and Pokhara.
"However, our focus is Nijgadh Airport as it is near to the capital and has the potential to be the regional air hub," said Minister Bhattarai.