Looking at the current scenario of Nepal’s tourism sector everything looks rather bleak. The industry is going through one of its toughest periods. The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent travel restrictions imposed by the governments of various countries have hit the global tourism sector.
It makes matters worse for countries like Nepal which has been entirely dependent on inbound tourism since long. After the government eased the lockdown a few hotels have been receiving some domestic tourists but a majority of the hotels are still struggling just to sustain.
“Our hotels are mostly dependent on international tourists and it has already been a year now and we have not had any international guest,” says Shankar GC who owns a couple of hotels in Kathmandu. He adds that they had to lay off staff in the initial period of the lockdown to cut down on operating costs. “At present, we have been receiving a few domestic tourists and we hope this will help us sustain our business.”
However, GC mentions that domestic tourists cannot fill the void left by the international tourists. “Moreover, we Nepalis actually do not have this habit of going on holidays so we cannot totally rely on local people to visit our hotels,” he states. “Our focus until the coronavirus pandemic broke out and we had a lockdown was solely on international tourists which needs to change now.”
According to GC, it is time that all concerned stakeholders and the government collaborated to encourage the trend of travelling among the local people. “We first need to inculcate the habit of visiting domestic destinations among the people then only can we expect domestic tourism to help our businesses,” he adds. Meanwhile, the recent strikes and rallies that we have been having are compounding the problem, GC says, adding that even that trickle of domestic tourists could dry up if the political situation does not improve.
Meanwhile, Bikal Tulachan, president of the Regional Hotel Association, Pokhara, says, “The situation of hotels in Pokhara is better now with the flow of domestic tourists though it is not consistent.” A few international tourists have started coming, he informs, “But again these political rallies and strikes could deter them from coming.”
“We have started receiving domestic tourists which is a good sign for the hotels here,” mentions Deepak Bhattarai, president of the Regional Hotel Association in Chitwan. Though we have not received any international tourist since the pandemic started we are getting a good number of domestic tourists on weekends and other national holidays.
Bhattarai informed that hotels in Chitwan have started keeping 20% to 30% of regular staff which he says is a good start for the moment. “The hotel occupancy rate is about 40% to 45% on holidays and 30% on weekdays and it is not possible to fill the void of international tourists with domestic tourism but at least hotels can survive,” he adds. “At the moment we are more bothered about just being able to keep our hotels open.”
