Lok Bahadur Khatri, joint secretary at Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA), said the ministry provided travel incentive leave three groups of employees from different ministries in the current fiscal year. [break]
Though travel incentive leave is a new concept in Nepal, it is very popular in India. Khatri said the Indian government provides financial support to government employees traveling to different domestic destinations with their families as a part of its ´leave concession tourism´ program.
He further added that Ministry of Finance has given consent to MoTCA´s proposal to increase budget for travel incentive leave from Rs 1 million to Rs 3 million.
“Along with promoting domestic tourism, travel incentive leave is also important for government employees as it helps unleash their tensions and revitalize them,” Khatri added.
The three groups that enjoyed the facility in the current fiscal year comprised of 22 government employees each. The government bore travel, food and accommodation expenses of those 66 government employees.
A total of about 400,000 government employees work for different government offices, including about 80,000 in ministries.
India provides paid leave of 7 to 10 days to its employees to visit domestic destinations.
Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) - a public-private undertaking - is practicing travel concession leave concept. NTB employees enjoyed paid leave of nine days in a year to visit different domestic destinations.
Subash Nirola, senior director at NTB, said NTB was providing travel and daily allowance to its staffers enjoying the facility. “To enjoy the facility, staffs have to submit their travel itinerary before they begin their holiday,” Nirola added.
Some commercial banks have also been promoting travel incentive leave among their employees in the name of ´forced leave´. Bank employees get two weeks of ´forced leave´ along with a month´s salary every year.
Ankit Khanal, manager of Siddharth Bank Limited´s Kalanki branch, said most of the bank employees spend the ´forced leave´ by traveling to different destinations across the country and indulging in recreational activities. “We feel refreshed after such breaks and get extra vigor to excel in the responsibilities assigned to us,” Khanal added.
Some of the corporate houses in the country have also embraced travel incentive leave to motivate their workforce.
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