VNY 2020 suspended, secretariat to be dissolved from April 12

KATHMANDU: The government has formally decided to suspend the much ambitious Visit Nepal Year 2020 project, in view of the global spread of coronavirus pandemic.

A meeting of the cabinet held almost two weeks ago took a decision to this effect, Keshav Bahadur Adhikari, Secretary for Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, informed. “I received a notice yesterday regarding the stalling of the project. The secretariat will also be dissolved on the first day of the Bikram Samvat calendar,” the secretary elaborated.

“No other decision has been taken in this regard,” Adhikari said in response to a query regarding Minister Yogesh Bhattarai’s comment about ‘Visit Decade’ in store, in lieu of the Visit Nepal Year plans.

Prior to this, the Ministry had only notified the public informally about suspending the year-long-event till April.

The government had announced 2020 as the Visit Nepal Year with an aim of bringing in two million tourists. Nepal has gone into a nationwide lockdown, for two weeks, to slowdown the spread of the global pandemic that has infected close to 70,000 people while leading to a death of 33,106 people.