Suraj Vaidhya (L), national coordinator of Visit Nepal Year (VNY) 2020, hands over the certificate of recognition to Chinese actress Xu Qing as the Tourism Goodwill Ambassador for Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 19, 2019. Chinese actress Xu Qing was conferred the goodwill ambassador by Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai for the promotion of Nepal's tourism. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)

Chinese actress Xu Qing has been conferred as the tourism goodwill ambassador for the Visit Nepal Year (VNY) 2020 campaign.

At a special function in Kathmandu on Saturday, the Chinese actress was conferred the goodwill ambassador by Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai for the promotion of Nepal's tourism.

Addressing the ceremony, the minister said that campaign will now take a qualitative turn as a Chinese celebrity with a large number of followers on social media is now the goodwill ambassador for the campaign.

In response, Xu thanked Nepal for the nomination and said, "I am really happy to be part of this campaign."

The announcement comes at a time when Nepal is preparing to celebrate a year-long VNY campaign in 2020 with a target to welcome 2 million foreign tourists.

China is the second largest tourism source market for the Himalayan country.

Chinese actress Xu Qing attends a ceremony conferring her as the tourism goodwill ambassador for the Visit Nepal Year (VNY) 2020 campaign in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 19, 2019. Chinese actress Xu Qing was conferred the goodwill ambassador by Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai for the promotion of Nepal's tourism. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)

 

Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai (R) shakes hands with Chinese actress Xu Qing after awarding her as the Tourism Goodwill Ambassador for Visit Nepal Year 2020 in Kathmandu, Nepal, Oct. 19, 2019. Chinese actress Xu Qing was conferred the goodwill ambassador by Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai for the promotion of Nepal's tourism. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)