KATHMANDU: With less than five months left for the government’s most ambitious Tourism Year campaign, Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011 coordination committee has planned to employ Direct Consumer Marketing through international TV channels. “As we have about five months for NTY 2011 launch, we are planning for the NTY promotion through various international television channels,” said Dhruba Narayan Shrestha, Coordinator of Tourism sector at FNCCI and member of NTY 2011 working committee.
However, he said that there is still no stability in the government and the committee lacks proper budget for its promotional programmes. “We need a budget of around Rs 230 million for this year,” said Shrestha adding that at least Rs 16-17 million will be required for the promotions through international channels.
“Direct Consumer Marketing is the most convenient way for tourism market through which we can promote NTY 2011 in different countries directly to our consumers. However, it depends on the budget allocation,” Shrestha said. For NTY 2011 tourism entrepreneurs have targetted mostly the Indian tourists to visit Nepal. Shrestha said that one-window system on Nepal-India entry points can help Indian tourists with immigration, custom and transport.
As there is no direct flight connecting Europe to Nepal, we are now more focused on Indian and Chinese tourists, he said. Targeting more Indian tourists for next two months, we will be making one-window system operational in the border areas.
Shrestha also informed that the NTY committee is also designing NTY 2011 special sticker for the tourist vehicles so that tourists do not face any kind of hassle while travelling any part of the country.
“We are working not only for the NTY 2011 but also for the future of the Nepali tourism industry,” he said. NTY coordination committee is aiming to bring 3 lakh Indian tourists and is planning a variety of promotional programmes in Indian cities. For the promotion of NTY 2011, the committee has already made feasibility study for the border areas. The study has already been made at 10 different border points of Nepal that is Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bhairahawa, Kakarbhitta, Dhangadi, Pashupati Nagar, Janakpur and Nepalgunj.
Shrestha expressed his disappointment over having on no direct flight connecting Nepal with the European countries. “Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) alone could have supported the tourism year with minimum 40,000-50,000 European tourists. Now that there are no direct flights, we are more focused on providing better facilities to Indian and Chinese tourists,” said Shrestha.
In view of lukewarm preparations for the year long campaign, the tourism industry has been expressing dobuts about its success.
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