National Coordinator for Visit Nepal Year 2020, Suraj Vaidya signed a long awaited strategic agreement with Shanghai CTRIP Commerce Co to promote Nepal as a preferred travel destination in the China market. The agreement is valid from June 2019 to June 2020 and the promotional campaign will be run under the title: ‘See You In Nepal’, and is the biggest digital marketing campaign for Nepal in China.

China is the world’s largest outbound tourism market with 149.72 million people travelling in 2018. In Nepal, Chinese arrivals dropped from 123805 in 2015 to 104664 in 2017. Despite the drop, China still remains the second largest source market at 11.1% for Nepal.

There is a long history of economic, political and social interaction between China and Nepal. According to the Chinese Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), the Chinese like Nepal for its close proximity, clean environment, stunning nature and friendly people. There is interest in UNESCO heritage sites and places of religious and cultural significance in Nepal. Pokhara is a favoured hub among Chinese nationals besides jungle safari, handicraft shopping, Mount Everest and the birthplace of Buddha, Lumbini remaining key attractions.

Ctrip is the Chinese provider of travel services including accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and corporate travel management. It was founded in 1999, it is currently the largest online travel agency in China.