At the Nepal Tourism Board, the country’s tourism promotional body, crises appear to be hovering all around again.

Politicking at the board, which operates under a public-private partnership model, has been a long-standing problem, affecting its national and international tourism promotional plans for decades.

Political manoeuvring becomes rampant when the time for appointing a chief executive officer (CEO) begins every four years. And the key tourism promotional body is already headless.

Apart from the politics over the chief’s appointment, the board has yet to introduce its annual budget, a serious matter for the agency promoting Nepal abroad.

“The board is in severe crisis,” said a top board official. The crisis arrived after most countries launched free-visa policies to attract tourists.

Nepal plans to draw 1.6 million tourists this year, but that will not be possible without promotions. Amid all this, the country’s poor air safety has further hindered tourism growth, the official said.

There is now tough global competition to attract tourists.

Laos is extending its visa exemption policy and increasing visa validity for tourists from certain countries.

The Thai cabinet has rolled out a series of new visa promotions, including visa-free and visa-on-arrival schemes, extended student stays, and reduced compulsory health insurance for retirees. Under the new scheme, visitors can stay in Thailand for up to 60 days, compared to the earlier limit of 30 days.

Indonesia plans to introduce visa-free entry for tourists from 20 nations, including India, by October this year.

In December last year, Malaysia granted visa-free entry to citizens of China and India for up to 30 days.

Zimbabwe is giving a leg up to its tourism industry with a new visa-free entry policy for 35 countries.

However, poor planning, unstable politics, and plane crashes have marred Nepal’s tourism, the country’s economic growth engine, at a time when most economic indicators are dim.

The tourism board has been headless since January 30 when the term of its former CEO Dhananjay Regmi ended.

On top of that, the board is yet to present its annual budget.

“We are on a budget holiday,” said Mani Raj Lamichhane, spokesman for the Nepal Tourism Board.

“From Sunday, there will be not a penny to spend on day-to-day activities.”

As per the board’s financial bylaws, it has to bring the full budget by July 9. If the budget is not passed by then, it can manage expenses for day-to-day activities through a partial budget up to August 9.

And there is a mandatory provision of passing the budget by August 19.

If the budget is not passed by August 19, the tourism board may face a legal crisis. “We don’t know what will happen in that case,” said another senior board official.

Officials say that given the ongoing crisis, the full budget seems impossible.

Last fiscal year, the board earned Rs1.04 billion in tourism promotional fees charged to foreigners who departed from Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport, the main source of its budget.

However, only 30 percent of it has been spent. The board estimates that it will introduce a Rs1.25 billion budget this fiscal year.

Lamichhane said they met Tourism Minister Badri Pandey on Wednesday, and the minister assured them that the budget would be passed.

Officials say frequent government changes have affected the functioning of the board, creating a leadership vacuum. Power tussles have become common among the board of directors, appointed by different ministers belonging to different parties at different times.

“In the board of directors, the members face four different directions. No agendas can be approved.”

The 11-member Nepal Tourism Board comprises five representatives, each from the government and the private sector, and the CEO. The tourism secretary chairs the board.

As per the law, even a six-member board can pass the budget. “We don’t know what’s stopping the tourism secretary, the board chair, from doing that,” said the official.

The CEO appointment, too, seems uncertain.

As per the process, a three-member CEO selection committee should be formed to appoint the chief.

The sub-committee shortlists three candidates based on their presentations and interviews and submits their names to the board, ultimately selecting the CEO within 90 days of the committee’s formation.

After Regmi’s term ended, the board of directors initiated the process of appointing a new CEO. However, the applications were invited only on April 6.

Twenty individuals, including Regmi, had applied for the executive position. The sub-committee had shortlisted 16 candidates.

However, this was challenged when a writ petition was filed at the Patan High Court questioning the legality of the sub-committee members.

On April 29, the joint bench of High Court Judges Sudarshan Dev Bhatta and Kailash Prasad Subedi continued the short-term interim order issued on April 22, ordering the halt of the CEO selection process.

The next hearing was scheduled for Sunday. However, the government has declared Sunday a public holiday, on the occasion of Bhoto Jatra. On this day, the Machhindranath chariot festival concludes with the showing of the legendary vest at Jawalakhel in Lalitpur.

Kundan Sharma Mishra, an official at the tourism board, filed the writ petition, contesting the legality of the two board members Milan Devkota and Madan Kumar Acharya, who were nominated to the CEO selection subcommittee. The director general of the Department of Tourism is another subcommittee member.

“As per the law, the Cabinet should appoint board members. But it was former tourism minister Prem Ale who appointed the two board members. This minister-level decision is illegal. If the appointment is illegal, the CEO they select will also be illegal,” said Mishra.

Devkota and Acharya were appointed in March 2022.

The CEO appointment process had run into controversy even in the past.

In 2011, the board had shortlisted 12 applicants in the first week of November.

However, it was four years later, in December 2015, that the CEO was appointed. In that period, more than two dozen writs were filed in courts to halt or postpone the appointment process.

The tourism board, established in 1998 under the public-private partnership model, is mandated to promote Nepal in domestic and international markets.

But the board soon became a political playground.