January 10: The Tourism Revival Task Force, which was formed about three months ago with the objective of revitalizing the tourism industry that has been badly affected by Covid-19, has remained inactive till date. The task force comprises of representatives from the government and the private sector.

The task force was formed on the eve of World Tourism Day in public private partnership model for playing an active and resulted-oriented role.

The task force was formed on the initiative of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. It had announced to revitalize the tourism industry by promoting domestic tourism.

At the time of the formation of the task force, it was said that the task force would coordinate between the policy makers, stakeholders and other concerned bodies for effective communication between them and also to create a trust among all stakeholders.

The then Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai had taken the initiative to set up the task force with the concept of promoting domestic tourism. But the task force has not been able to work effectively ever since it was established.

Stakeholders say that the task force has not been able to perform as per the expectations because the government is engaged in political crisis and the private sector is in a wait and watch situation.

Coordinator of the task force Deepak Raj Joshi, who is also the CEO of Nepal Tourism Board, said that they have not been able to work effectively due to lack of coordination with the government.

He however claimed that the task force has already prepared a work plan for the promotion of tourism and presented to the ministry.

“The year 2020 came to an end while we were busy announcing programmes and preparing the work plan. Now that all sectors have been gradually reopening, we are currently holding discussions with stakeholders regarding how to involve domestic and foreign tourists in the country in tourism-related activities in a safe and secure environment,” said Joshi, adding, “As we are in the discussing phase, we are not expecting results anytime soon.”

He was of the view that an integrated effort is required to revive the tourism industry that has been badly affected by Covid-19.

CEO of Nepal Chapter of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Suresh Singh Budha informed that newly-appointed Tourism Minister Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal had called a meeting of stakeholders to discuss the issues related to tourism on Sunday (January 9).

During the discussion, tourism entrepreneurs said that the foreign tourists were not hesitant to visit Nepal due to the safety standards adopted by the airline companies and also due to language barrier.

The government has already reopened the hotel industry, international flights, tourism and trekking industry in order to increase tourism activities.

The World Tourism Council had stated in 2019 that the contribution of the tourism industry to Nepal’s GDP was 6.7 percent while it created around 1.1 million employment.