Visit Nepal 2020 Launch to Honor the Life of a Tourism Hero
Nepal is known as a country of beauty and resilience when it comes to the travel and tourism industry. Nepal is also known to have some of the most dedicated people running their nations tourism industry. Many of them will be attending ITB travel trade show in Berlin from March 6-10 to celebrate one of their own tourism hero, the late Nepal Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Rabindra Adhikari.
The Nepal Tourism Board in cooperation with the Nepal Embassy in Berlin has planned a launch event of “Visit Nepal 2020” at a VIP dinner on March 7 on the sidelines of ITB and organized by the eTN Corporation.
There will be 252 VIPs in attendance, including several ministers of tourism including Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who is the person behind the global tourism resilient initiative. There will be ambassadors, the former UNWTO secretary general Taleb Rifai, top Nepal travel suppliers (buyers and sellers), and media from around the world who have registered to attend.
The ITB Launch for Visit Nepal 2020 will be dedicated to the late Nepal Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Rabindra Adhikari.
He was instrumental in the finalization of “Visit Nepal 2020” and had been working endlessly till last week to make this important milestone a success.
The late Nepal Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Rabindra Adhikari was to attend the dinner in Berlin, but less than a week before the launch, he passed away in a tragic helicopter accident after visiting a new airport project and a temple in Southern Nepal.
Nepal Tourism officials put great thought into whether or not they should move forward with the event at ITB or if it would be appropriate to delay due to the Minister’s death. After careful consideration, it was decided that the hard work of their late minister would be his best legacy, and they came to the consensus to go forward with the “Visit Nepal 2020” event on Thursday.
In honor of Minister Adhikari’s vision, this planned evening of culture and Nepalese cuisine will now also be an evening to gather and remember the late Minister Rabindra Adhikari with respect for his tireless efforts and gratitude for his foresight for the future of Nepal’s tourism industry.
After taking the helm at the Ministry in February of last year, Adhikari, 49, had undertaken a series of policies to reform Nepal’s civil aviation sector. He took prompt steps to improve conditions at Nepal’s only international airport, Tribhuvan International Airport, and pursued the reactivation of several domestic airports. Adhikari also held several rounds of talks with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) which recognized some of the steps he had taken on the safety of Nepal travel.
The year 2020 was chosen as the national tourism year of Nepal after the year 2011 which was the primary authority tourism year of the new Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The government and tourism department of Nepal authoritatively reported that Nepal will take the year 2020 as “Visit Nepal 2020,” a year committed to the tourism industry of Nepal with the vision of making a reasonable brand picture of Nepal as a travel and vacation destination. This vision supports the tourism foundation of Nepal, enhances the growth of the nation’s tourism industry, and enriches local tourism as a supportable industry.
Beginning in 2016 and 2017, the government began making arrangements and laying a foundation to formally initiate the open connection program for “Visit Nepal 2020.”
The legislature aims to accommodate more than one million visitors amid the year of this important Tourism program.
For more information on the launch event, go to buzz.travel/nepal.
A Plan For Our Kids: Climate Friendly Travel
Deep down, most people know, Travel & Tourism must respond to the eXistential challenge of Climate Change, must fully align with the Paris Agreement targets, and must play a leading role in the Green New Deal paradigm shift. Our sector is a central part of the human activity – social, economic and environmental: its influence and impact are growing: its role in development is fundamental. Mobility is a part of our DNA.
But we are in the middle of a massive “New Climate Economy” transformation. It will affect all consumption, all supply, and all investment on the planet, as well as a shift to the circular economy and nature-based solutions. The scientists say we have about a decade to get our house in order and keep global temperatures at tolerable levels for humanity. If we don’t fix it, our grandkids will freeze or fry.
Many will say that we are acting already – conferences, declarations: observatories: pledges: certification: awards: offsets: clean energy technology and so much more. We have WTTC linked to UNFCCC, IATA & ICAO taking care of aviation and CLIA, WOC & IMO looking after cruises. We’ll also get a huge boost from societal shifts to low carbon lifestyles, smart cities, electric transport: synthetic fuels: green buildings, satellite or big data monitoring, AI, IOT and the like.
At the same time countries, cities, businesses, and consumers will deliver an increasing number of national and local regulations as states take steps to ensure that the SDGs and Paris targets are achieved. All this change will intensify under the dictates of a progressively tightening Paris climate regime. Surely this will be enough?
I suggest it will not. Our world is just beginning to understand the impact of extreme weather, melting ice caps, warmer oceans, severer drought, fiercer forest fires, disrupted supply chains, and migration mayhem. The harsh reality is we still need to move further, faster and more strategically on Climate Response in the coming decade.
Tomorrow’s leaders must have the right mindset to deal with the dynamic disrupted world of tomorrow. The ingenuity to conceive and build responsive Travel & Tourism systems for liveable, as well as enjoyable destinations. And that means starting now and accelerating to stay on the intensifying Paris curve.
SUNx – a legacy program for Maurice Strong, the father of sustainable development – has crafted the start of a response. “Plan For Our Kids” will create 100,000 STRONG Climate Champions in all UN States by 2030. Not to replicate or substitute work done by committed industry or government bodies dealing with Climate response – we will need all of these. There will be no magic bullet
Our contribution is to help prepare the next generation of decision makers, as well as help companies and communities connect with them. It’s a low cost, CSR linked program, which will support nextgen leaders with lifetime learning, from school through graduation and it will teach Climate Friendly Travel ~ measured to manage: green to grow and 2050 proof to innovate. It will provide cloud-connected online education, analytics and a heavy emphasis on innovation, to spread best practice around the system.
“Plan For Our Kids” will help keep a central focus on climate resilience for destinations, companies, value chains and travelers themselves. It will focus on communities because that’s where lasting impacts are made and it’s where ultimate lifestyle decisions rest. It will be expanded through SDG 17 Partnerships for change.
To take this plan to global scale in the 2030 timeframe requires us to find a pioneer group of like-minded industry and government partners, prepared to commit to a real strategy for a real existential climate emergency. Just 50 STRONG Climate Champions in each State, every year for the next decade will see a global movement of 100,000 by 2030. They will be from the Greta Thunberg generation. They will have the same vision, commitment and tenacity. They will help deliver Climate Friendly Travel.
If you share this view and want to be a part of the change, please contact Geoffrey Lipman at [email protected] or visit our website www.thesunprogram.com