May 20: The government has announced to observe 2025 as a 'special tourism year'. President Ram Chandra Paudel made such announcement while presenting the policies and programmes for the fiscal year 2023/24 in the joint meeting of the federal parliament on Friday.   
The decade of 2080s of the Bikram era will be marked as 'visit Nepal decade' while 2025 AD will be observed as the special year for tourism. The tourism sector which witnessed massive downturn by the COVID crisis is slowly recovering.    
Nearly 100,000 tourists are visiting Nepal every month since the beginning of 2023. As per the latest statistics maintained by Nepal Tourism Board, the country recorded arrival of over 326,000 foreign tourism in four months of 2023.    
Previously, the government had announced to observe 2020 as 'visit Nepal year' which was later cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.    
Similarly, the president announced that timely revision would be made in tourism related law. The tourist destinations would be popularized in the international community and necessary infrastructures prepared accordingly.    

New tourist destinations would be identified in all seven provinces and each province will be a cultural village, the policies and programmes mentioned.    

New mountains would be opened for climbing. Security arrangement for climbers and tourists would be made more reliable.    

The president further announced that the concept of film tourism would be materialized and expanded and new dimensions added to adventure tourism.    
With the collaboration of private sector, 'Samarmatha Special Honour' will be conferred on the foreign nationals considering their role on promotion of Nepal's art, culture, language and literature in the international arena.    
    
Also stressed in the government policies and programmes are strict adherence to air safety standard and development of Pashupati and Lumbini as centres of religious and spiritual study.