KATHMANDU, Nepal-With the announcement of the full fledge budget for the fiscal year 2013/14 by the government of Nepal, mixed reactions and comments about the budget from the tourism entrepreneurs are still coming in. According to them, the budget has brought both hope and dissatisfaction to the tourism sectors.
Ex- chairman of Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) and deputy-chairperson of the World Mountaineering Federation Ang Chhiring Sherpa hailed government scheme of offering a week -long tourism holiday to the government staffs, hoping it would play a key role in promoting domestic tourism and home stay in the rural belts of Nepal.
Likewise, another tourism expert and chairman of the National Tourism Entrepreneurs’ Organization Chandra Rijal said Rs 630 million allocated for eco-tourism and Rs 130 million allocated for the conservation of the archaeological and religious sites would have fruitful result in tourism. ‘It would obviously encourage tourism entrepreneurs,’ Rijal added.
The government has allocated Rs 1.81 billion budget for the tourism sector while issuing budget for the fiscal year of 2013/014.
However, Chairman of Thamel Tourism Development Council, Ram Sharan Thapaliya, said he was not satisfied by the total amount allocated to tourism sectors. Thapaliya stressed the need that the government should have had allocate some budget for the betterment of Thamel area, a tourist hub in the capital Kathmandu.
On the occasion, entrepreneur cum mountaineer Rajendra Tamang complained that the government failed to allocate budget for the publicity programmes relating to tourism.
