MONEY»
Budget airlines to the Tarai
AUG 27 -
Prachanda Man Shrestha is chief executive officer of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the country’s sole authority for the promotion of tourism. One of the key officials behind Nepal’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Shrestha has been heading the NTB since 2007. The Kathmandu Post talked with Shrestha about the progress of the preparations for Nepal Tourism Year and promotional plans. Excerpts:
How is the NTB spearheading the campaign for NTY 2011?
The NTB is the secretariat of NTY 2011. And we’ve initiated five interventions for the tourism year. The first one was to get commitments from the political parties which we have already got. In order to make NTY a national campaign, we have inter-ministerial coordination. The third intervention is capacity building where we’ve focussed on selecting potential tourist destinations and conducting awareness programmes there. If these spots have accommodation constraints, we’ll introduce home stay. We are also doing product activity expansion in association with district development committees, municipalities, local bodies of the FNCCI and travel associations.
What are the NTB’s initiatives abroad to promote NTY 2011?
We have been taking private operators from Nepal to international travel fairs. We’ve been organising press conferences at these fairs to publicize Nepal. Along with this, we’ve been holding Nepal Evenings in coordination with NRNs and Nepali missions. Regarding consumer publicity, we have been inviting tour operators and members of the media to Nepal from selected markets.
It is said that promotion of NTY has been hampered by the budget. What is the situation?
Yes, we need a significant amount for promotion abroad, especially for consumer marketing. We’ve sought a budget of Rs. 230 million from the government. The delay in the publication of a full-fledged budget has definitely marred promotion. However, we’ve asked companies abroad to forge partnerships with us to conduct promotional activities. Despite budget constraints, we’ll be launching campaigns for NTY in eight countries in the next four months.
The national flag carrier Nepal Airline Corporation’s fleet expansion plan has been put on hold again. How will it affect NTY 2011?
The delay in fleet expansion will definitely have an impact. If the expansion plan had gone ahead, we would have had four aircraft which would have brought additional tourists to the country. It has compelled us to rely on international airlines. Till now, 25 international carriers are flying to Nepal. By the start of NTY, five more will come to Nepal.
What are the markets that NTB is eyeing to realize the target of 1 million tourists?
We’ve classified our markets into three categories -- conventional markets, neighbouring markets and emerging markets. We are targeting 45 percent arrivals from the conventional markets, i.e., Western Europe, North America, Japan and Australia. Our plan is to bring 32 percent tourists from neighbouring markets like India and China. The emerging markets that include countries from Southeast Asia will be contributing 21 percent of the arrivals during NTY 2011.
There was talk about diverting some international flights to airports outside Kathmandu to reduce congestion at TIA. Will TIA be able to handle 30 airlines in 2011?
We’re aware of this fact. The NTY secretariat had forwarded three proposals to the government in this regard. The first one was to divert budget airlines to airports in the Tarai. The other proposal was to start cross-border flights from airports outside Kathmandu. And the third one was to make TIA operational 24 hours.
Posted on: 2010-08-28 09:09
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