Nepal Moves to Amend Tourism Board Act to Expand Mandate and Tighten Appointments

Kathmandu. The Nepal Tourism Board Act is set to be amended. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation is preparing to amend the Nepal Tourism Board Act, 2053 BS. The Ministry has drafted the bill for amending the Act.

The amendment seeks to expand the duties and authority of the Board by revising Section 6 of the Act. The draft of the amended bill includes provisions for the Board to act as a representative of the Government of Nepal in promoting Nepal's tourism products and activities nationally and internationally, suggesting policies to the Ministry for the conservation, promotion, and enhancement of Nepal's tourist areas, identifying and promoting significant natural, cultural, historical, religious, and archaeological heritage sites in Nepal, and coordinating with stakeholders from the public, private, and non-governmental sectors for the diversification, development, and promotion of the tourism business, as well as facilitating inter-level coordination for necessary policies and programs to promote tourism at the federal, provincial, and local levels.

The amendment seeks to grant the Board the authority to encourage private sector participation for the development, expansion, and promotion of the tourism business, to organize international assemblies, conferences, fairs, festivals, competitions, and other specified events, either independently or in coordination and collaboration with the private sector for tourism promotion and publicity, to coordinate with relevant foreign associations for cross-border tourism activities based on mutual benefit or contribution, and to enter into agreements with international organizations upon prior approval from the Government of Nepal for tourism promotion.

Stricter criteria are being introduced for the appointment of members and the Chief Executive Officer in the Board, which has historically been used as a center for political patronage and cadre recruitment. The proposed bill draft specifies qualifications for Board members, requiring that they are not members of any political party at the time of appointment, do not hold more than ten percent share ownership in any sector of the tourism business, possess a postgraduate degree or higher from a recognized educational institution, and have at least five years of continuous experience in the tourism business sector.

For the Chief Executive Officer, the proposal stipulates a minimum of a postgraduate degree from a recognized educational institution, at least five years of work experience as the head or one level below the head of a company or organized institution established under prevailing laws related to tourism, and at least fifteen years of experience in the tourism sector. Furthermore, the proposal includes provisions that the candidate must not hold residency permits in foreign countries, must not have been convicted of crimes involving corruption, rape, human trafficking or smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering, passport misuse, kidnapping, or any criminal offense involving moral turpitude, must not be blacklisted under prevailing laws at the time of appointment, must not be a member of any political party, and must not hold any office of profit.