The Second Meeting of the BIMSTEC Network of Tour Operators was virtually held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 08-09 December 2020. Delegations from all the Member States attended the Meeting. The meeting was held on a virtual platform due to the COVID Pandemic where except for the Sri Lanka delegation, all other member states delegates joined online for the two-day session. NATTA was represented by Secretary Jiswan Tuladhar Shrestha.
Detailed discussions were carried out by respective Travel Industry representatives of Member States in establishing a BIMSTEC Tourism Information Centre and monitoring and utilizing the BIMSTEC Tourism fund which comes under the Ministry of Tourism in India.
Several presentation and discussions were made by each countries highlighting the potential of Outbound Tourism to the Member States which could be promoted together by BIMSTEC Counties. After a lengthy discussion with member states, it was decided to form a working group for tourism comprising the private & the government sector officials in the Tourism Sector of each Member State to formulate a joint Action Plan in implementing the BIMSTEC brand of tourism.
The first meeting of BIMSTEC Meeting held back in 2017 at India had decided to hold the second meeting in Sri Lanka. As a result, Sri Lanka was the Host country for the second meeting which was organized by Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) from 8th – 9th of December 2020.
The next meeting of the BIMSTEC Network of Tour Operators will be held in Nepal in 2021, coinciding with the BIMSTEC Travel Mart. This two-day meeting ended up with fruitful discussions with the hope of promoting tourism products, with collaborative promotional efforts by each BIMSTEC country, which will pave the way to enhance regional tourism.