Kathmandu, January 6

A delegation of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) led by First Vice President Amarman Shakya met with Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel and Tourism Minister Ananda Prasad Pokharel separately at their offices, today, and discussed the challenges being faced by the hoteliers during this turbulent time caused by the devastating earthquakes of April and May and recent border blockade.

During the meeting with the finance minister, the hoteliers sought preferential treatment from the government regarding the refinancing facility, which is going to be extended through the government’s Revival Fund worth Rs 100 billion, according to a statement issued by HAN, today.

Similarly, hoteliers have requested for extension of default period for submission of tax as the government has removed default period of a month being extended from the second month of this fiscal from Poush (mid-December).

Hoteliers have drawn the attention of the government to the recent crisis they have been facing, which is similar to the situation faced during the insurgency days when some star hotels had to shut down. They said that the situation has been worsening since the beginning of 2015 when a flight of Turkish Airlines crash landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport in March.

HAN delegation also briefed the tourism minister about the recent status of the flow of tourists. According to HAN, the hotel occupancy rate in 2015 was 25 per cent on average. In the meeting, Minister Pokharel expressed his commitment to do his best for the revival of the tourism sector.

Second Vice President of HAN Shreejana Rana, Treasurer Ghanendra Bahadur Shrestha, Executive Director Prabesh Aryal and tourism entrepreneur Bharat Basnet were part of delegation.