New tourist destinations being explored: Minister Tamang

Kathmandu: Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Hit Bahadur Tamang has said that exploring new tourist destinations will promote the tourism sector.

Responding to the choirs raised during the discussion on Appropriation Bill 2081 BS in today’s meeting of the House of Representatives, Minister Tamang said tourist infrastructure development programmes including tourist destinations, hill stations, and the Great Himalayan Trail have been decided by identifying and developing new tourist destinations.

He shared that there is a plan to run the ‘Trail Based Tourism Programme’ in the coming year with the participation of the Swiss government, the Ministry of Tourism and 29 local levels of Koshi Province. Minister Tamang also informed that there is another programme to regulate and improve the service facilities such as hotels, homestays, casinos, and tourist transportation.

He said that the goal of bringing in one million tourists in 2023 was easily achieved, so the target is set to bring in 1.6 million tourists in the coming year. Minister Tamang said that in order to significantly attract tourists from the neighboring countries China and India, the Nepal Tourism Board will conduct a tourist promotion programme by targeting places and focusing on culture in the language based on the needs of tourists from those countries.

He said, “Nepal Tourism Board is planning to conduct the programme in cooperation and partnership with the Greater Janakpur Area Development Council by making necessary preparations to run the wedding destination hub.” Declaring the Lumbini Development Trust as a scheme of national pride, Minister Tamang said that work is being done in accordance with the master plan and said that efforts have been made to address it with high interest to prevent the lack of budget as in the past. He said that a task force has been formed by the ministry to bring Gautam Buddhaa International Airport and Pokhara Regional International Airport into operation at full capacity and further work will be done according to the suggestions received from the report.