KEDAR DAHAL
KATHMANDU, March 24
The tourism sector will again be hit hard due to strikes called by different political parties at a time when both domestic and foreign investment has been increasing in the sector.
Booking of hotels has fallen by up to 20 percent and that for tour and trekking by up to 10 percent after the 30-party alliance led by UCPN (Maoist) announced general strike from April 6-9 at the start of tourist season. Tourism entrepreneurs say booking continues to fall. “There should have been 90 percent booking of hotels in this season but it is just 70 percent now due to announcement of strikes. The sector seems set to again teeter due to the strikes,” General Secretary of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) Vinayak Shah says.
The forthcoming strikes will also affect mountaineering. Booking for mountaineering is done five years in advance. There are two major seasons for tourists in Nepal—the first from September to November, and the next from April to June.
Domestic and foreign investment has been arriving for hotels, casinos and airline companies in Nepal. Over 20 five-star hotels are in construction phase. There are currently 10 five-star hotels in the country. Over half a dozen international airline companies are also starting flights to Nepal. “Nepal now seems to be an unsafe tourist destination in the international sector. Tourists have now started to cancel booking,” tourism entrepreneur Yogendra Shakya says. “The tourism sector looks certain to again face problems despite the political parties talking about start of economic revolution,” he adds. He states that tourism entrepreneurs are hit hard as the parties that had expressed commitment to not call any strike during the Tourism Year 2011 are competing to call more strikes now.
Entrepreneurs say tourist arrival will again fall due to the strikes at a time when it has been falling in the last couple of years. A total of 585,981 tourists had visited Nepal in 2014, a fall of 1,861 from 2013. Executive Director of the HAN Prabesh Aryal says the tourism sector, that had been stymied after the European Union (EU) blacklisted the Nepali sky, has again suffered due to recent developments. “All the entrepreneurs currently are in a state of wait and watch. Booking for the current season has been cancelled due to strikes. This will also affect the booking for the next season,” he adds.
President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association Ang Tshering Sherpa says the strikes will have a big impact as this is the main season for mountaineering. “The tourists, who book five years in advance for mountaineering in Nepal, are shocked by the strikes. The parties should have understood this fact,” he adds.
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