Background
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the world has come to a halt which has also affected Nepal. Since then, Nepal’s major economic sectors have also been directly/indirectly affected, including the tourism industry, which is the most highly affected sector. Now that the global pandemic seems to be slowly fading throughout the globe, it is necessary to make some great efforts to revive the tourism industry and bring it to its previous form.
All the tourism entrepreneurs, workers, and employees related to this sector are in long-term pain, and about 25% percent of the tourism entrepreneurs have already been displaced. With an ongoing fear of a new variant of COVID-19, the end of this global pandemic is still uncertain.
The world tourism industry is struggling to operate. All the businesses depending on tourism are also being affected. Even though the Nepal government is putting a substantial amount of effort into promoting Nepal and reviving the tourism industry, the outcome is still not as expected.
The arrival of tourists is a must and now the government, related ministries, and tourism board need to come up with very promising strategies and plans to support tourism in Nepal regardless of the ongoing pandemic.
Nepal’s tourism industry, which is one of the biggest sources of income for the country’s economy is now struggling to rise to its previous position. So, it is now necessary to take some vital steps to not let it worsen but instead push towards the betterment.
Objective
Considering the global pandemic, traveling around countries seems very complicated due to travel restrictions, formalities, and even probable health risks. So, it is now very important to promote domestic tourist destinations to Nepali people and encourage them to travel around Nepal, rather than just waiting for international travelers to arrive in Nepal.
In the fiscal year 2077/78 the government of Nepal had announced 10 days of paid leave for the government employees to travel around Nepal. This was done to promote and encourage Nepali people to travel domestically first and keep the tourism industry alive.
But this did not help much in supporting the tourism industry as Nepal’s government did not put enough effort into making policies and plans towards encouraging domestic traveling.
It is very important to keep the tourism industry active to keep the economic activities ongoing in the country. The need now is to promote domestic tourism. The first effort we can put into this is to educate every Nepali about the beauty of Nepal.
There is a need to seriously implement the slogan “Nepal first, then abroad” because people are much more focused on traveling around the world while still being unaware of what Nepal has to offer to them and how lucky we are to be living in a country full of the gift of nature, amazing history, astonishing art and culture, and whatnot.
The key to promoting tourism is to advertise the destinations to attract people to travel. It is important to propagate our history, culture, and nature through photos and videos. All 7 provinces of our country have their own historical, cultural, and natural values. We as Nepali need to understand the value of our country first and together promote Nepal. Our goal is simply to promote domestic destinations in all the provinces and encourage domestic tourists to travel around our own country first.
This is the reason Athot Nepal has named this event ‘2nd National Tourism Convention & Photography Competition – 2024’ which is to be held in all 7 provinces of Nepal continuously. Out of the shortlisted photographs, will be selecting and exhibiting the top 49 photographs taken by professional photographers from all over Nepal. Their photographs will be judged and rewarded in the ‘Presenting Nepal Photo Competition 2024’ which will be held nationwide and will be a success in bringing outstanding works of talented photographers. We will be taking those photographs to all 7 provinces of Nepal with the only objective of promoting domestic tourism in Nepal.