KATHMANDU: Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari on Tuesday asked China to allow Nepali carriers to fly to different Chinese cities.
He said that the government has set a target to significantly increase Chinese arrivals during the Visit Nepal campaign in 2020 with the goal of attracting 2 million foreign tourists.
Currently, five Chinese carriers — Air China, China Southern, China Eastern, Sichuan Airlines and Tibet Airlines — operate flights to Nepal. But no Nepali carrier serves China.
Minister Rabindra Adhikari met his Chinese counterpart Luo Shugang and requested him to allow Nepali carriers to land in different Chinese cities.
The first national tourism campaign was launched in 1998 when Nepal hosted 463,684 visitors, representing a growth of 10 percent. In 2011, the government launched another Nepal Tourism Year campaign with the goal of bringing 1 million tourists.
Although actual arrivals fell short of the target, 736,215 tourists visited the country, or a growth of 22 percent over the previous year. Nepal has targeted to bring at least 500,000 Chinese tourists in 2020.