Nepal calls off Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign due to coronavirus

KATHMANDU, March 31: The government of Nepal has called off its Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign due to coronavirus pandemic.

According to Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, a recent meeting of the Council of Ministers decided to cancel the government’s ambitious tourism campaign.

An emergency meeting of the Tourism Ministry held earlier this month had canceled its overseas campaign earlier for the month of March after the coronavirus started to spread across the world.

The government had targeted to bring 2 million tourists in the year 2020. But the pandemic, which has spread to more than 200 countries and territories, has blown cold air to the country’s hopes bringing an early halt to the tourism campaign.

The virus has killed more than 38,700 people and infected nearly 800,000 people globally since it first emerged in Wuhan of China late December and about one-third of the world population remains under lockdown as it continues to spread.

Nepal, which has confirmed five COVID-19 cases so far, is under a nationwide lockdown since March 25 with all the international commercial passenger flights canceled.

But after the pandemic put an end to Nepal’s third-ever Visit Nepal campaign, the government plans to mark the next decade as the Visit Nepal Decade campaign.

Secretary Adhikari said that the government is planning to announce the campaign during the government’s policy and programs for the next fiscal year.