Kathmandu, March 14

The outbreak of coronavirus is likely to affect Nepal’s hospitality industry for the entire year, according to hoteliers.

“With travel restrictions in place and a significant drop in the arrival of tourists, the occupancy rate of hotels has slumped,” said Shreejana Rana, president of Hotel Association Nepal, adding that hotels were bracing for challenging times ahead as the slump had occurred during the peak tourist season (March to May).

According to Rana, the occupancy rate of hotels at the moment has declined by 70 per cent compared to the same period last year. “As the situation is unlikely to take a turn for the better in the near future, the impact will most likely be felt for the entire year,” she added.

Meanwhile, after the number of tourists declined, hotel operators in Sauraha, Chitwan, have started giving ‘leave without pay’ or ‘half-paid leave’ to staffers. “A few hotels have started sending their staff on leave because they have become unable to pay t h e m ,” said Suman Ghimire, former regional president of HAN.

The hotel occupancy in Chitwan has plunged to barely 15 per cent at the moment from around 70 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

Ghimire said that domestic tourists had, however, somehow provided a bit of relief to hotels in Chitwan. “The flow of domestic tourists is still good and we hope they will help us survive this crisis.”

Binayak Shah, first vice-president of HAN, also said that this was the right time to promote domestic tourism. “Promoting domestic tourism may be the best solution to recover the losses caused by coronavirus.”

According to Shah, the number of leisure travellers occupying hotel rooms is very low. “It is mostly just diplomats, business persons and representatives of non-governmental organisations who are occupying some rooms in the hotels at the moment.”

He further said the private sector had recommended that the government should encourage paid leave for civil servants to promote domestic tourism in order to provide immediate relief to hotels. “Although the government is very positive towards our recommendation for loss recovery, it has not taken any action yet,” he said.