Chitwan, January 23: Nepali Ambassador to Belgium Lok Bahadur Thapa shared that tourism promotion activities were being conducted in Belgium to attract Belgian tourists to visit Nepal. The expectation is to increase the number by double compared to the previous years, he said.
Ambassador Thapa, who arrived here in course of Belgian Princess Astrid’s visit to Nepal, said so during an interaction with the journalists here Wednesday (Jan 22) According to him, 75,000 Belgian tourists had arrived Nepal last fiscal year 2018/19. Furthermore, Ambassador Thapa shared that the Nepali embassy in Belgium would also participate in the festivals to be organized in Brussels on February 6 to lure Belgians to Nepal.
Thapa said that it was found that a majority of the outbound Belgians were opting for Africa, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Singapore for their holiday. In this context, he spoke of the need to attract those Belgians to attract towards Nepal for their next holidays.
Similarly, Joint treasurer of Non-Resident Nepalis Association, Lok Dahal, viewed that the ongoing visit of Belgian Princess Astrid to Nepal could further support in attracting as many as Belgian tourists to Nepal. Belgian Princess Astrid is in Kathmandu on a week-long unofficial visit to Nepal. Dahal informed that brochures about Visit Nepal 2020 campaign was distributed in major thoroughfares in Belgium on January 1 and tourism promotion events were being organized in various Belgian cities on a weekly basis coordinating efforts with the Nepali Embassy in Belgium.
According to him, the Nepali diaspora in Belgium were also advancing the tourism campaign in Belgium to the best of their capacity. The Nepali-run restaurants in Belgium, he said, were posting brochure and posters of the campaign that aims to bring in at least two million foreign tourists to Nepal within 2020.
The Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign was inaugurated by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on January 1, 2020, in Kathmandu while the campaign saw an official inaugural in Belgium on January 7. Belgium, a country with more than 10.2 million native population, has currently around 8,000 Nepalis residing and working. RSS
