July 12: Implementation of the ‘ten-day holiday package’ for the revival of the tourism industry is likely to be delayed. The government had announced the package for civil servants as well as employees of public institutions in the annual budget speech in order to aide the tourism industry battered by Covid-19.

However, the government is yet to prepare a work procedure to implement the package.

As the work procedure is not made yet, the employees will not be able to take this offer from the beginning of the next fiscal year. The holiday package will be implemented only after the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation prepares a work procedure and the Council of Ministers approves it. However, the procedure to be made by the ministry is still in the preliminary stage.

Stating that the work procedure for the implementation of holiday package is being drafted, Joint Secretary of the Ministry Laxmi Kumari Basnet said that they will finalize it  soon by addressing the issues announced in the budget speech.

"We are in the process of drafting the work procedure now," she said, “The draft will be prepared in 10 days.”

After the draft is ready, the ministry is planning to take suggestions from other stakeholders.

She said that first the ministry would prepare the draft of the work procedure and then all the ministries and institutes would be informed and their opinions would be sought. “After that, the opinion from the finance ministry will be taken and sent to the cabinet,” she said. “Therefore, it will take some time for the implementation of the holiday package.”

Although the holiday package is said to be implemented from July 16 as per the budget announcement, it will take some time to implement the package due to the delay in preparing the work procedure and its approval.

Additional budget is also required for this. Basnet said that the program will be implemented only after the budget is allocated and disbursed. According to her, the package will be implemented after the concerned ministries and agencies submit their programme to the Ministry of Finance after calculating the cost and expenses required for the employees while going for a tourism holiday.

The government had announced the budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2078/79 on May 29 and announced to provide 10 days’ holiday to promote domestic tourism. In the budget speech, it was mentioned that in order to promote domestic tourism, the civil servants, as well as employees of public institutions and organisations will be provided tourism holiday with an amount equal to 10 days' salary. Employees working in the private sector will also be encouraged to provide facilities accordingly.

While there are no international tourists in the country due to Covid-19, the package was a relief to the tourism entrepreners.

Entrepreneurs were enthusiastic about the tourism holiday announced to help revive the sector through domestic tourism.

However, with only four days left until the next fiscal year starts, they are disappointed that the procedure has not been finalized. Senior Vice President of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Binayak Shah said that although the Desh Darshan program was announced in the current fiscal year it has not been implemented. “Only declaration is not enough, where is a concrete plan and procedure to implement it?” he asked.