Nepal has banned vehicles with Indian number plates from plying in the tourist hub of Pokhara ahead of the new year, a move that has sparked an uproar among tourism entrepreneurs. Nepal aims to attract two million tourists, mostly Indians, by 2020 and Pokhara is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the country on Christmas and the new year.
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The decision to ban Indian vehicles was taken by Pokhara Tourism Council in consultation with the district administration of Kaski to ease traffic congestion during celebrations. Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has chalked out an ambitious plan seeking to increase the number of Indian tourists visiting the Himalayan country by up to 25 per cent in 2019. In 2018, around 2,00,000 tourists from India visited Nepal by air. Nepal does not have a system to count the number of tourists coming by road from India. NTB launched ‘Visit Nepal Year 2020’ campaign in June to achieve two million arrivals from across the world by 2020 and a daily spend of over USD 75.