By Chhetu Sherpa, Kathmandu, Apr. 1: Preparations to arrange a Tourism Satellite Account to record the data of international tourists visiting Nepal are going on in full swing. 

Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) began the procedure to form a satellite account after the government provided the responsibility to the Board regarding the same.

Dr. Dhananjaya Regmi, Chief Executive Officer of the Board, informed The Rising Nepal that efforts were being made to record the itineraries of foreign tourists in order to make the satellite account more effective.  

"We have been working to create a one-door account of each and every tourist entering Nepal. From the upcoming year, we will be able to ascertain all information regarding the tourists visiting Nepal from the account," said Regmi.

The Board informed that the preparations had begun from FY 2066/077.

Until now, the board had been recording the data of tourists manually with the help of Trekkers' Information Management System (TIMS).

"As TIMs was ineffective and burdensome, the government had decided three years ago to create a satellite account," said Nawang Nima Sherpa, member of the Board of Directors at NTB, "After the account comes into operation, all the unlawful acts being done to the tourists and by the tourists will also be controlled."

Former Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari had taken initiative to implement the satellite account for tourists.

Details as to the number of tourists entering Nepal, their country of origin, class, their purpose of visit, tenure of trekking, or other works will be recorded in the account, the board informed. After the installation of the system, the contribution made by the tourism sector in the nation's economy can be determined on the basis of which, the government can frame plans to promote tourism. The Board informed that the satellite was being installed with the help of the World Tourism Organisation (UN-WTO).

The stakeholders have been stating that the absence of Nepal's own satellite account had increased the possibility of jeopardising the privacy of the government's information.

Currently, the Board has been collecting the data of tourists by making them fill up forms for the management of the information. However, due to its ineffectiveness, the data collected by the Department of Immigration and NTB contradict.

Likewise, the NTB has been collecting information of only those tourists who visit Nepal via airways. The information of foreigners entering Nepal via various border points goes unreported.

 Last year, even though the government had spent billions of budget to host two million tourists under the Visit Nepal programme, the Board said that the target could not be achieved due to the COVID-19 pandemic.