CommuniqueSaturday, April 25th, 2020

Communiqué

The global pandemic COVID-19 has put a huge threat everywhere and the Tourism sector is no exception. In fact, one of the most hit sectors by the terrorizing disease spread is Tourism. Following the enforcement of the lockdown since 06:00 am, March 24, Nepal Tourism Board is going extra miles to address several problems brought by the alarming spread of the virus. The Tourism and Crisis Management Communication Cell, formed under the Board to address the rampant issue, initiated the #StrandedInNepal campaign and helped rescue over 1,721 tourists stranded in different parts of Nepal. We introduced a crisis hotline number and a crisis email to respond to various queries and problems. With the concerned Ministries, Embassies/Diplomatic Missions, Government bodies’ cooperation, we succeeded to safely rescue and send home a remarkable number of tourists via repatriation flights. Various tourism associations, hotel associations, and individuals from all over Nepal welcomed this initiative and extended their assistance to the Board.

We are grateful to all for the unwavering support. After Rescue, NTB is now gearing up to come up with a Recovery Plan to sustain the industry for the days to come. We are conducting an online survey to assess the data of the tourism industry to make recommendations to the Government on possible support and relief packages to overcome the crisis brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak.

We have now zero active cases in major tourists’ destinations including Kathmandu and Pokhara and No Deaths in the country from COVID till now. With the destinations opening after the containment of the Virus, the travelers of tomorrow will definitely be looking for destinations with better Hygiene and Sanitation. As such, to prepare Nepal as the newly defined Normal Destination, we have prepared a separate Hygiene and Sanitation Protocol/code of conduct for different sectors of the tourism industry, which we will soon upload/ distribute. These Protocols will have to be mandatorily followed in order to re-open the respective businesses.

Nepal Tourism Board is continuously working for Survival and Recovery of the Industry and shall continue updating its activities through all its Social Media channels and www.welcomenepal.com. We welcome your advice and suggestions if any.