Kathmandu, December 28
In the annual budget announcement for the current fiscal year 2021/22, the government announced it would give each of its employees a 10-day travel leave so that they can visit their favourite destination inside the country. With the provision, the government wanted to promote domestic tourism.
However, as the fiscal year’s first half is about to close, the provision has not been implemented.
Six months on, the government has even failed to approve a standard operating procedure to implement the announcement.
Tourism Secretary Maheshwar Neupane says the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has forwarded the operating procedure’s draft to the Ministry of Finance, but the Finance Ministry is yet to give its comments. He claims the operating procedure will come into effect once the Ministry of Finance approves it.
Meanwhile, a source in the Ministry of Finance says it is studying the document.
Tourism entrepreneurs, on the other hand, have been putting pressure on the government to implement the announcement as soon as possible.
