KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 3

Members of Hotel Association Nepal under the leadership of its President Shreejana Rana have submitted a memorandum to Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari and requested him to extend the deadline for the repayment of loans and reduce interest rates on loans.

Presenting the memorandum, Rana said the hotel and tourism industry is still struggling to breakeven and is operating at a loss due to lack of tourist traffic and activities.

Although the industry is on the way to recovery, the tourist arrivals this year may not even reach 600,000 compared to 1.2 million in 2019 before the pandemic stuck. President Rana said that businesses are operating at half capacity, which has agitated hoteliers across the country.

'Although it is our responsibility to pay the instalments of the loan taken and the interest to be borne on it, we are not able to pay the loan interest to the banks under any circumstances in this situation.

We strongly demand the deadline for paying the loan interest to be extended for at least two years along with the provision of rescheduling and refinancing.'

HAN has also requested some of the service facilities adopted by Monetary Policy during COVID-19 to be given continuity. The association has also complained that the rising interest rate applied by the banks is too much for a very sensitive industry like hotels and has requested the governor to decrease interest rate to single digit to encourage investment.

Meanwhile, Governor Adhikari urged the hoteliers not to panic. He assured to play a supportive role by addressing reasonable demands through Monetary Policy review and policy management.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 4, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.