Valentine's Day excitement unseen in Sauraha

There is very little excitement this year on Valentine's Day as observed in the tourism sector. On the eve of Valentine's Day, there has been no observable activity in the hotels.

Entrepreneurs of Sauraha have said that they have only been booked sporadically and largely remained vacant without many tourists. They said that although the number of people asking for rooms has increased, they have not been able to do so enthusiastically. Businessmen of Sauraha had been holding food festivals on the occasion of Valentine's Day each year, however, the festival has not been held this year. The 16th edition of the Food Festival has been postponed due to the pandemic.

Dipendra Khatiwada, the outgoing president of Restaurant and Bar Association Sauraha, said that there was not much activity in Sauraha this year even though it was crowded at this time till last year. 

In previous years, a five-day festival was held with enthusiasm but this year, Sauraha has been deserted and the program was postponed due to Covid. According to Khatiwada, the food festival was not held this year even though it was a favorable time.

Chairman of the Regional Hotel Association, Deepak Bhattarai, said that 90 percent of the hotels were booked at this time in previous years but they are all deserted at this year's time of booking. He said, "The number of tourists is increasing, but it is negligible compared to the past." Bhattarai said that they are hopeful that the tourism sector will return to normalcy as people asking them for info are increasing. This season is important for the tourism business. There used to be good business in Sauraha on Valentine's Day. He said that there was a problem when the local administration provided information about the ban and closure due to Covid but did not provide information about their opening.

In previous years, Hotel Seven Star didn't have enough room for everyone and used to send tourists elsewhere. Operator Madhav Duwadi said, "We have not been able to reach even 40 percent capacity this year. Earlier, we used to send guests elsewhere because we were always fully booked."

There are about 120 tourist hotels in Sauraha area. There are a total of 5,500 beds in these hotels. Entrepreneurs have granted leave to many of their employees as they could not attract a lot of guests to the hotel. Entrepreneurs are frustrated after the hotel sector was disrupted due to Covid during the major time of operation. Entrepreneurs hope to return to normalcy soon.