English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...

The Remake of a Stateforeign currency earners in the country. There is sustainable rise on therevenue generated by tourism at national level which is evident by theearning of US$ 351.9 in 2008 that is up by 52.60 per cent than the totalrevenue generation of US$ 230.6 in 2007 (MoTCA 2009).3.2. Institutional arrangementsA policy document is an expression of commitments outlining the vision of agovernment for a reasonable period. The process of tourism developmentin Nepal through the strategy of economic planning was initiated from thevery first five-year plan (1956-61). The Tourism Master Plan of 1972 wasthe first separate and comprehensive policy guidelines. This plan has beenfound to have adopted the concept of decentralised pattern of tourismdevelopment. It had strongly advocated having Nepal type of tourismpackages which advocates looking at it from tourists’ perspective. A reviewof the Nepal Tourism Master Plan in 1984 recommends establishment ofa separate autonomous semi-public (in association with private sector)Nepal Tourism Promotion Board.A year long national tourism campaign for 1998 as ‘Visit Nepal Year 1998’with the central theme ‘A sustainable habit through sustainable tourism’in association with private sector targeted the arrivals of 500,000 touristsduring that year. With the support of United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) Partnership for Quality Tourism (PQT) Project,Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the first and only of its kind in South Asia,was designed as an autonomous national tourism organisation out ofthe partnership between the government and the private sector tourismindustry on January 1, 1999.During the Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97), the government announcedan independent sectoral tourism policy in 1995. The Ninth Five YearPlan (1998-02) included the promotion of eco-tourism along with thedevelopment of model tourist villages, development of new trekking areas.The Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07) focused on reviewing tourism policies,institutional performance, regulation and institutional arrangements.The Three-Year Interim Plan 7 (2007/08-2009/10), formulated in thepost-conflict stage, has adopted the policy of recognising tourism asthe national priority industry through offering similar facilities to otherindustries. It has envisaged long-term vision, strategies and policy forsustainable development of tourism. One of the working policies of thisplan states that the priority will be given to environment friendly eco-7National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal, 2007.99