December 26: After the success in bringing in an overwhelming 1.2 million tourists in Nepal in 2019, the government has announced a strategic action plan to bring in 3.5 million tourists annually after a decade.

The government has announced the 'Nepal Tourism Decade 2023-2032', aiming to increase arrival of tourists by 15 per cent.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has prepared a strategic action plan intending to increase the arrival of tourists in Nepal to 3.5 million annually by the year 2032. On Friday, the ministry organized a program to announce the plan. The tourism decade will be implemented from 2023 to increase tourist arrival along with employment, the contribution of this sector to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the per day expenditure of tourists.

However, the stakeholders shared that they are skeptical that the government will execute the action plan stating that it was introduced without a proper planning. They shared that the government publishes plans but always shows lack of interest in implementation those plans, and there are doubts whether the next government will advance this plan or not.

Deepak Raj Joshi, the former CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board, said that it is positive to prioritize tourism and bring a long-term plan. He however said that the preparation is still not adequate. 

Likewise, Joshi shared that the target of bringing in 3.5 million tourists is low. He said that it is not possible to increase the per day spending of tourists to 125 dollars. 

Similarly, it seems that the target is only for planning. There is a target, but there is no strategy. Issues such as how to highlight Nepal's tourism products are secondary, he added. 

According to government data, the contribution of this sector to the GDP is about 3 per cent. Tourism professionals have been saying that it is around 8 per cent. According to Joshi, this target can be achieved if 3.5 million tourists visit Nepal in a year.

Similarly, Senior Vice President of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Vinayak Shah said that the program introduced by the government is positive as all countries need tourists for revival of economy after Covid-19 pandemic. Although the program looks good from the theoretical point of view, he doubts that there will always be problems in the implementation part. 

Now it is a matter of how the new government will take this program forward. Even though the old programs are good in our country, the new government does not prioritize them, he added.