SYNDEY: Preparations are afoot to inaugurate the Visit Nepal 2020 in Australia in a grand manner to attract as many as Australians to visit Nepal in 2020.

Nepal is welcoming as many as 33,000 Australians on average annually, according to the Department of Tourism.

The Nepali Embassy here aims to increase the number of Australians visiting Nepal by two-fold.

Nepal government is going to organize the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign in 2020 with an objective to bring in at least 2 million foreign tourists to Nepal. The campaign is to inaugurate on January 1.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai is scheduled to inaugurate the Visit Nepal 2020 amid a grand ceremony in Sydney on January 7, 2020.

The event is going to be organized by the Nepali Embassy to Australia in Canberra and the Consulate General of Nepal in New South Wales, Sydney.

Nepal’s Ambassador to Australia Mahesh Raj Dahal shared that on that day, the Nepalis in Australia, as well as the Nepal-loving Australians, will post Visit Nepal 2020’s official logo in their social networking site-Facebook- at 7 am.

A rally would be organized from 8 am-10 am the same day in the places with a dominance of Nepali diasporas in Australia.

The event will see office-bearers of the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) in Australia.

At 1 pm on the same day, a special program will be held at Sydney Opera House in presence of the VIP guests, 58th time Nepal visitor Australian Chris Walker and Nepalis dressed in traditional attires.

Minister Bhattarai will then officially launch the Visit Nepal 2020 here.

A dinner reception will be organized the same night to be attended by the tourism entrepreneurs and foreign guests among others. Many promotional events will be run by the Nepali Embassy here round the year.

Furthermore, the Embassy here will organize interactions among the travel agents, travel enthusiasts, writes, journalists among others here and they will be asked to write articles, write-ups and promotional materials on the prospects of tourism in Nepal so as to inspire travel enthusiasts to visit Nepal.

The tour and travel operators here have announced various visit packages. It is probably for the first time any Australian travel agencies announced such package tours.

NRNA, International Coordination Committee member Raju Adhikari called for collective efforts among the Nepalis in Australia and Nepali Embassy here to make the Visit Nepal 2020 a successful event.