August 11: The budget of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) for the current fiscal year has almost shrunk by 50 percent due to the adverse impact of Covid-19.

NTB, which has been authorized with the main responsibility of promoting and developing the country's tourism sector, had announced its budget for the new fiscal year on Monday, August 10. The tourism board has announced a budget of around Rs 820 million for the fiscal year 2077/78.

The budget was approved by the board meeting of NTB held on Monday. NTB in its new budget has prioritized promotion of domestic tourism and research on tourism.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, tourism activities have come to a standstill and its sources of revenue have declined drastically. This has forced NTB to cut its budget this year due to lack of resources. Last year, NTB had announced a budget of Rs 1.63 billion focusing on promotion of Visit Nepal 2020 campaign.

The board in its official statement informed that the budget had to be reduced due to lack of resources at a time when Covid-19 has severely affected the entire tourism activities.  

Awadhesh Kumar Das, a member of the board and coordinator of the budget committee, informed that the size of the current year's budget has been reduced due to the complete closure of tourism activities and lack of cash reserves.