Shrestha vows to rebuild sports tourism

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, July 3 : Nepal Sports Journalists Forum (NSJF) on Saturday held an interaction with Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Jeevan Ram Shrestha on the occasion of the World Sports Journalist Day 2022.

NSJF organized the interaction with Minister Shrestha to mark World Sports Journalist Day 2022 with the motto, “Prospects of Sports Tourism in Nepal”. 

Every year on July 2nd, World Sports Journalist Day is observed globally to recognize the outstanding efforts of the journalists who bring the world of sports closer to its viewers. 

The Nepalese sports journalists’ umbrella organization, NSJForganises different events to mark the Day every year. 

Addressing the interaction, Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Shrestha said that he would try to make his tenure as minister remarkable on by prioritizing the development of sports tourism in the nation.

“ Nepal has an abundance of possibilities on the sports tourism front and I will also focus on developing the sector,” he said adding, “Tourism minister is one of the major stakeholders of the sports and as an individual, we have to work for the promotion of the tourism and sports sectors.”

“We have lots of opportunities in sports tourism and I will do something special for the development of sports tourism in my short tenure by focusing on rebuilding the tourism sector that was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the tourism sector that suffered huge damage during the pandemic and sports sector,” Minister Shrestha added. “ I would work for rebuilding sports and tourism sectors.”

NSJF president Durga Nath Subedi congratulated Shrestha for being appointed as the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. Minister Shrestha is the president of the Nepal Olympic Committee.

NSJF former president and the treasurer of Asian sports journalist governing body, AIPS Asia, Niranjan Rajbanshi,  said that they had been organizing different events to mark World Sports Journalist Day annually. “We requested the governing body of the tourism sector many times to connect sports with sports tourism but they didn’t respond to our request

This time Minister Shrestha, a leading figure in the Nepali sports arena, has been appointed the minister which has raised hopes that the sports tourism sector would see a new beginning, Rajbanshi said.