The Nepal Government has doubled the tourism service fee for foreigners exiting Nepal via Tribhuvan International Airport enacting from March 1, 2014. The decision to revise the fee was taken by the executive committee of NTB. It was later approved by the Ministry of Finance.
The statement specifically highlights that the income generated from the fee will be used by #Nepal_Tourism_Board to promote Nepal in the international arena and for development of domestic tourism.
I think the money collected from the tourists should be invested in the airport and other facilities rather than the personal holiday trip of the NTB staff. When they go abroad we all know how the promotion takes place. One thing we all have to understand that Nepal lacks marketing tools for Nepal’s promotion. We have embassies in most parts of the world why aren’t we using that network. Working as a tourism journalist I have personally participated in many programs conducted by such embassies that save money and time and most importantly it helps the embassy to increase their credibility at a national level.
Apart from that we lack promotional quality materials like videos and photos which need to be worked on.
The NTB should hire few intellectual marketing consultants who can work on creating a buzz campaign rather than spending millions and billions of rupees in the so called foreign trip in the name of promotional expenses.
I am sorry to say this but taking Nrs 1000 from one tourist might not matter but when it comes to a year’s round figure that money amounts to 6 or 7 digit in a year and you are planning to use it for promotional activities what a joke....
The money taken from the tourists should be returned to them in the name of service, my question is why isn’t NTB ready to finance thamel as a Vehicle Regulated Zone or help Basantapur give better services. Why is it just ready to go for promotional activities aboard only?
Why is my question? Its high time when the leadership and the Nepal Government start thinking about the long terms solution for Nepal’s tourism and its pros and cons rather than wasting time and money in the name of promotional activities.
Nepal is getting popular as tourism destination whereas talking about the cost its increasing and when we talk about services and quality then its decreasing. Then what are the tourists getting out of it #Baba_jee_ka_Thullu
Use that money to improve the #Tribhuvan_International_Airport at least the tourists would get some benefit out of it ...............
last time I was there at the International Arrival section I was ashamed of the message displayed at the corridor and services available there. Leadership needs to check this
I know and understand the importance of foreign promotion but at this stage our tourism is just growing. It’s our choice to whether make the base strong or whether we want to make it more vulnerable and expensive.
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