U.S. Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nepal Pradeep Kumar Gyawali jointly launched a training series on English and operational skills for tourist police, immigration officers, and tourism officials.

Speaking at the opening ceremony in Kathmandu today, Ambassador Berry said, “As Nepal’s economy continues to strengthen and as it welcomes more and more international visitors, it is more important than ever that those on the front lines are able to communicate and resolve problems in English.”

This multi-city, multi-month training program is an effort to enhance the English language skills of tourism-related officials to advance the economic growth and security goals of Nepal. The U.S. Embassy’s Regional English Language Office, in collaboration with Integrated Development and Transformation Nepal (IDT), will help to enhance participants’ English communication skills in their daily interactions with foreign visitors. This series of trainings in four cities throughout Nepal is expected to reach around 80 immigration officers, 50 tourism officials, and 43 tourist police.

In 2017 and 2018, the Nepal Tourism Board reported that despite being located half way around the world from Nepal, travelers from the United States represented the third largest number of visitors to Nepal. Last year, Nepal had more than 90,000 visitors from the United States alone, up 12,000 from the previous year. We expect to increase the number this year. The current training aims to support economic growth through improving the tourism experience in Nepal.