Visit Nepal '98
Festivals, Events & Activities | Further Informations | VNY'98 | Other
On April 12, 1996, His Majestys Government declared the year1998 as Visit Nepal 98 in order to further enhance the image of Nepal as a special destination for the visitors. To accomplish the programme objectives, various organisations and agencies both within and outside the tourism industry, have come together hand in hand to formulate a strategy to make Visit Nepal 98, a success.
The programme strategy has been formed taking into consideration that:
This campaign is a process and is to bring continued results even beyond 1998. Thus, its momentum must begin now and continue with the same vigour well beyond the year of the event.
To achieve the objectives of Visit Nepal 98, various programmes related to infrastructure development, product, special events and activities development and publicity / promotion have been identified.
The programme demands the undertaking and co-ordination of activities by different organisations in the tourism sector, i.e. government and private, other business sectors of the economy, other sectors of government, municipalities and local governments, NGOs, International organisations, self-help groups and most importantly the involvement of the people of Nepal.
It is of paramount importance that Visit Nepal 98 is regarded and positioned as an event of national significance, supported by all. While the project will be co-ordinated and implemented by the tourism sector, all sectors of society will be mobilised actively during the implementation of the project.
The main objectives of Visit Nepal 98 are as follows:
These objectives will be fulfilled mainly through concerted effort of the private sector and the government sector tourism organisations working in partnership, with the active support of other sectors. His Majestys Government will provide the leadership and budgetary support to effect implementation.
3. THEME AND PROMOTIONAL SLOGAN
Theme of Visit Nepal98 is :
A sustainable habitat through sustainable tourism
The theme encapsulates the very essence of a value based tourism, whereby tourisms yield and contribution must further strengthen the economy and socio-cultural fabric of Nepal. Tourism development must be sustainable and work towards bringing a better quality of life for the people. People of Nepal must also know and feel that tourism brings tangible benefits towards improving their lives.
The Promotional Slogan of Visit Nepal 98 is :
A World of Its Own
The slogan is short and is meant to impress the potential visitor that Nepal consists of many wonders. The Everest is only one of them. A living heritage, exotic fauna and flora, a wide range of events and festivals, a most friendly and hospitable people, unique trekking routes, exciting adventure and a diversity of ecotourism products consist a world of its own here in Nepal. A world where there is a unity of theme and a diversity of attractions.
The use of the slogan should be uniform and its printing should be using the font style Avent Guard Light. Colour used for the logo will be deep blue and deep red. Its position with the logo and font size, should be in proportion as follows:
A World of Its Own
4.1 Infrastructure improvement and development
4.2 Product improvement and development
4.3 Events and activities
4.4 Promotion and Publicity
4.6 Related Support Programmes of other Government Agencies
4.1 Infrastructure improvement and development
Infrastructure for tourism in Nepal is an integral component in Nepals economy as well. Being a land locked country with limited land access via the neighbouring countries, the most important mode of access is by air. Currently Nepals only international airport is the Tribhuwan International Airport located in Kathmandu. Due to its location and the constraints on take off, only aircraft of limited size and capacity can now land at this airport. This makes long haul flight operations to Kathmandu relatively more expensive. Currently, there are ten international airlines operating in Nepal. In addition there is a weekly charter operation from Germany. Apart from the capacity limitation due to the physical factor, there are also limitations in frequency of operations and points of origin. In order to facilitate the implementation of the Visit Nepal 98 targets, HMG is implementing plans to liberalise access to other international carriers, encourage Nepali private operators to fly to international sectors and liberalize the existing charter policy. The issue of international air access remains an important factor in the equation to develop tourism.
With a liberal policy towards operation of domestic services by private sector operators, there are now seven domestic airlines and six of them operate helicopter services as well. Three more airlines are to start operations in the near future. His Majesty's Government has recently granted permission to private airlines to operate in international sectors as well. Several of the leading operators run efficient services but are constrained by limited facilities at domestic airports. This has attracted the attention of the HMG and work is underway to improve runway and terminal facilities at several domestic airports.
Airport facilitation such as ground handling, immigration and custom services need to be improved and is identified as a priority area for action for Visit Nepal 98. Training and motivation and even streamlining the services through making them closed services are among the recommendations.
The road network to and within Nepal require improvement. Proper land use along road reservations is necessary to ensure long term improvements. Visit Nepal 98 is expected to be a strong catalytic agent in effecting both long term and short term solutions to seeking improvements.
Infrastructure in the servicing of other tourism related activities such as internal transport, guiding, trekking, rafting, national parks and wild life reserve operations need focus for further improvement as well. The solutions mostly lie in training and motivation.
4.2 Product improvement and development
The tourism product of Nepal in the past has consisted of a combination of several unique elements. Heritage tours of the Kathmandu Valley, where seven world heritage sites are located in close proximity, mountain flights or tours to vantage points to view mount Everest and the Himalayan range, trekking tours of some of the worlds most adventurous routes, river rafting on challenging waters, interaction with ethnic communities and wild life and nature tours have been the major features of the product. Although there is immense diversity of product elements and range, Nepals tourism operators in the past ,have not made the most of it by offering similar product packages. There has been a comfort factor in everyone following a successful leader. The result was a lack of diversity and specialisation and a tendency to indulge in severe price competition to sell to the same market segments.
Another constraints has been the seasonality factor.The months between May - September are regarded as monsoon months and considered as the off season. Although, there are intermittent rains during this period, it is nowhere close to monsoon conditions. Action needs be taken to correct this image.
Visit Nepal 98 will attempt to diversify the products offered with a view to make the so called off season attractive to visitors too.
While, visitor numbers and demand for niche products have grown in the international market place (with strong growth from Asian markets), Nepal in the recent past, has not been able to respond adequately with strong and appropriate product packaging. Visit Nepal 98 will give priority attention to enhancing the quality of the current product and in addition, introduce a range of diverse product segments to meet the demands of the new market niches.
The new products that are being developed for Visit Nepal 1998 and onwards range from cultural attractions , adventure tours to special interest tours and cover additional tourism sites in the kingdom. Such cultural tours include the exploration of additional cultural sites in the Kathmandu valley and beyond, anthropological tours in the southern plains and northern settlements. Staging of various traditional , cultural events and activities and hosting of many regional and international conventions in 1998 is supposed to offer a distinct touch on the living cultural heritage of Nepal . New offers of alpine meadow tours, honey hunting, bird - watching, farm tourism, cave culture tourism, musk deer tour, circuit pilgrimage tours etc. will attract special interest tourists to Nepal in 1998 and in the future years.
Peoples participation is a key factor for the success of Visit Nepal 98. Between now and 1998, it is necessary to create an exciting festive atmosphere in Nepal. In Nepal, there are many significant cultural, religious, national and regional festivals which will be of interest for visitors. In addition, it is proposed to create special events for implementation during 1998.
The official inauguration of Visit Nepal 98 will take place on 1st January 1998 in a grand and nation wide manner. The commencement of VNY'98 will also be marked by organising month - long numerous other festivities corresponding with the commencement of Nepalese New Year Calender in April 1998.
A detailed Visit Nepal 98 Calendar Festivals, Events & Activities will cover all activities taking place during 1998, containing the dates, the events significance and elements of interest to visitors.
Re-positioning of Nepals image as a visitor destination is an important element in the Visit Nepal98 promotional strategy. The current image of Nepal as an exotic travel destination is marred by the association of it being known as a cheap destination. With improvements to infrastructure, products and services, the re-positioned image will seek to establish that Nepal is a unique and exotic destination where value for money and quality products and services are offered.
Since there are only limited financial resources for international promotion, more attention will be focused on publicly efforts. Mobilising friends of Nepal, implementing projects such as Bring a Friend Home in 98 will supplement paid advertising and promotions at travel marts and trade shows. Support will also be sought from international and regional organisations such as PATA. WTO, IOTO, SAARC, ASEAN to promote VNY'98 through their networks.
Promoting Visit Nepal 98 among the population of Nepal is considered as a high priority activity. Local media and other community resources will be mobilised for this effort.
Achieving Visit Nepal 98 objectives of delivering quality products and services, depend largely on training and motivation of those interacting with visitors. While motivating the whole population is most necessary, training immigration and customs officers, taxi drivers, and all others who come in contact with the visitor is vital and extensive programmes are planned to achieve this objective.
Training and motivation will not be limited to skills development, and will cover the need to develop a quality culture at all levels of tourism operations.
4.6 Related Support Programmes of other Government Agencies
Visit Nepal 98 is a national effort of all Nepal and is only co-ordinated by the tourism sector. It is therefore extremely important that the project has the support and assistance of the whole HMG machinery. All government agencies are expected to work towards the success of the project and the co-ordination of these support programmes will be handled by the Office of the Prime Minister.
5. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS
Visit Nepal 98 project activities will be steered by a VNY'98 Main Committee headed by the Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation. The Main Committee will look into the policy matters & facilitate the other seven committees to implement activities in their respective areas. A VNY'98 Co-ordination Committee will oversee the work of six other committees constituted to formulate action strategies and facilitate and co-ordinate implementation of the Visit Nepal'98 project. Members of the co-ordinating committee and the six committees have been drawn from the government, private sector, international organisations, community groups, regional representatives and NGOs.
The six committees under the Main Committee are:
The day to day work of the project will be conducted by a Visit Nepal 98 Secretariat set up at the premises of the Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation. The secretariat is headed by a Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation who is concurrently the Member - Secretary of the VNY'98 Main Committee. The working staff is further strengthened through private sector staff and consultants input provided under the UNDP Partnership for Quality Tourism Project.
The Secretariat will co-ordinate with the various government agencies and other concerned private sector & non-government agencies for the execution of various programmes at the implementation level. It will facilitate the implementation of the activities as envisaged in the VNY'98 Plan for Action. Besides this, the Secretariat will also act as liaison with concerned VNY programme implementing agencies.
The complete list of members of the Main Committee, Co-ordinating Committee and other six different committees and list of the working staff at VNY Secretariat is given in Appendix 12.