Tourism Board gets Rs 120m for NTY-2011 promotion campaigns

SANGAM PRASAIN

KATHMANDU, DEC 30 -

With two weeks remaining for the much-touted Nepal Tourism Year 2011 to begin, the Ministry of Finance has formally released a budget of Rs 120 million to publicize the campaign at the international level.

Nepal Tourism Board officials said that although international promotion through the media and marketing had been delayed, the campaign would not be affected much as it would focus on tourist generating seasons.

Of the total budget released for international promotion, Rs 60 million will be spent in India, Rs 30 million in China and rest in other source markets.

The marketing campaigns of the NTB and the NTY 2011 implementation committee are expected to be highly visible in the two neighbouring markets through traditional promotional channels including electronic and print media, brochures and posters. The NTB has stepped up its publicity campaign with celebrity marketing and by inviting popular figures to the launch of NTY 2011 on Jan. 14.

NTB chief executive officer Prachanda Man Shrestha said that the NTB would now ask India and China to submit the terms of reference of their promotional packages. He added that promotional activities would start around March-April, which is the peak tourist season in Nepal. “The budget provided by the government

for international promotion is quite

small, however, we will utilize it in a broad-based way.”

The NTB has announced its promotional strategy for 2011 with the theme “Together for Tourism”. Nepal has targeted one million arrivals for 2011, which is double the figure of 2009.

Travel trade entrepreneurs said that expansion of tourism throughout the world has increased competition among tourist destinations. Every country is trying to attract more tourists by adopting new marketing techniques and strategies, and if Nepal fails to keep in step with world trends it will slide in the world tourism market.

“As media promotion plays a vital role in marketing any product or service, tourism marketing in Nepal is a long way from the goal. This is mainly due to inadequate and ineffective promotional measures of the tourism sector of Nepal,” said Ram Kazi Koney, managing director of Gandaki Tours & Travels.

Moreover, Nepal faces resource constraints and cannot afford a sufficient budget for promotional purposes. As a result, the country cannot conduct promotional activities by using the international media which is essential for attracting foreign tourists, Koney added.

Tourism entrepreneurs have criticized the NTB for not doing its duty to a better extent to ensure that Nepal emerges as one of the major competitive destinations in the world tourism market.

There are many positive indicators for 2011. Recent arrival figures show that there is still a very positive attitude towards Nepal. Other positive indicators include India and China showing solid signs of outbound growth. This is good for Nepal as it is a short-haul market with large populations of potential visitors.