Kathmandu, July 6, 2015: In order to work in a smooth and effective way, National Tourism Promotion Committee has constituted an executive committee.The decision to form a committee was decided in the first meeting of the committee held on Sunday.
The committee was formed under the chair of Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Kripasur Sherpa to carry out efforts for the rebuilding and promotion of the tourism sector in the aftermath of the recent powerful earthquake, as per the decision of the council of minister on June 16.
The coordinator of the executive committee is tourism entrepreneur Yogendra Shakya while Lakpa Sonam Sherma is joint-coordinator.
Meanwhile, the meeting agreed to take ownership of the Pokhara declaration-2072 BS issued by the Parliament Development Committee and a report published by the Pacific Asia Travel Association ( PATA) for rebuilding country’s tourism and make initiatives for their enforcement soon.
The Committee is to install weather forecast equipment in base camps of major peaks of the country for the conveniences of tourists.
The meeting agreed to request international community to give priority to Nepal while choosing venues for international-level events like meetings, assemblies, conferences, exhibitions and fairs as this helps rebuild the country’s tourism sector affected by the devastating earthquake.
As per the meeting decision, the government will be requested to exempt the provision of value added tax (VAT) on air fuel to relatively decrease aviation fee, which is expected to encourage tourists to visit Nepal.
Besides, it has recommended the government to free tourism industries from the imposition of income tax for at least a year, to provide concessions on the interest of bank loans taken by the earthquake-hit tourism industries with extended deadline for loan recovery by a year.
