Govt set to host Visit Lumbini Year 2012 on Jan 14

The government is set to inaugurate Visit Lumbini Year (VLY) 2012 campaign and Tourism Vision 2020 along with announcing the formal closure of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 (NTY-2011) in Lumbini on Saturday.

President Ram Baran Yadav is set to inaugurate the event amidst a special programme on the day.

The main aim of announcing the VLY 2012 is to promote Lumbini as a birthplace of Lord Buddha in the international community along with uniting the world to work towards creating a peaceful society through Buddha's peace message, according to the press release issued by Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).

"The Visit Lumbini Year campaign was a major linkage between NTY 2011 and Tourism Vision 2020 as it serves to sustain the achievement of NTY 2011 and improve livelihoods of the people through tourism as envisioned in Vision 2020," NTB said.

The successful completion of NTY 2011 has given two messages to the world - that Nepal is a peaceful and stable country after a decade long political uncertainty and tourism has been unanimously regarded as a vehicle of economic transformation, the statement added.

Some 628,000 people visited Lumbini in the year 2011 including some 128,000 third-country tourists.