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Avalanche, asphyxiation deaths in the first VNY month alarm officials, entrepreneurs

Kathmandu, January 26

Just two weeks after Nepal enthusiastically inaugurated the ambitious Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign with a target of bringing in at least two million foreign tourists in one year, seven people including four foreigns went missing in an avalanche in the Annapurna trekking region.

A few days after that, eight Indian national died of asphyxiation as they switched on a heater to warm the room before going to bead at a poorly equipped hotel in Daman of Makawanpur district, near Kathmandu.

Whereas many have thought these incidents would have an adverse impact on the country’s wish to aggressively promote the tourism industry. Concerned officials and entrepreneurs alike also view that these incidents have become alarms to them.

Rudra Singh Tamang, the spokesperson at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, however, maintains that the government is serious about avoiding such incidents in the future. “There are many works being done to give a message that Nepal is a safe destination.”

The entrepreneurs, however, are more worried. “Such incidents apparently affect tourist arrival. The government’s role should be more active in such situations,” he says.

Meanwhile, some stakeholders view that the absence of the chief executive officer at Nepal Tourism Board would also affect the campaigning. It has been more than one month since the incumbent Deepak Raj Joshi retired, but the government has not been able to find his successor yet.

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