Tourists cancel hotel bookings In Nepal

By Yuba Nath Lamsal ———–

Kathmandu : More than 22 per cent international visitors, who have planned to visit Nepal in 2015 spring season, have cancelled hotel bookings after Nepalese opposition parties announced series of street protests and general strikes recently.

Hoteliers and airlines operators said 22 per cent European and American tourists, who had earlier booked rooms and tickets to travel to Nepal in the spring season, have already cancelled their bookings due to strikes and protests of Nepal’s opposition parties and some more likely to follow suit, officials of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) said.

“This has once again posed a threat to Nepal’s tourism industry as not many international visitors are likely to visit Nepal during one of the peak tourist seasons beginning March this year,” said Prabesh Aryal, Director at HAN.

“Tourists, who wish to visit Nepal from March onwards, generally start inquiring about travel packages at this time of the year but the number of such inquiries has dropped recently because many have started fearing the protests would prolong,” Aryal said.

International tourists, who bring in dollars, tend to delete Nepal from the list of destinations that they would like to visit, reducing the country’s foreign income, which is not a good sign for the tourism sector that was gradually recovering following the decade-long conflict,” he said

The opposition parties have recently announced series of strikes to press the ruling parties to incorporate their agendas in the new constitution, which is being drafted in the Constituent Assembly.

“It is natural for political parties and groups to express their concerns when an important document like constitution is being drafted but this should not mean people have given them the mandate to shut down everything and paralyze businesses and normal life,” Pashupati Murarka, vice president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, an umbrella organization of Nepalese industrialists and business community.

“Protest organisers should keep in mind that their acts have once again created uncertainty and eroded investor confidence, which was gradually building,” he said.

Investors who were pinning their hopes on further improvement in country’s business climate are not happy and it will take at least a year to rebuild this confidence, Murarka said, calling upon political parties and trade unions not to discourage risk-averse investors and also tourists.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), Central Bank of Nepal, has estimated a loss of NRs 1.79 billion (US$ 17.9 million) due to single day’s strike.- BERNAMA

Jan. 17, 2015