Kathmandu, May 20

Tourism organisations and entrepreneurs have demanded that the government allocate budget to salvage the tourism sector, stating that this sector had been worst hit by COVID-19.

Issuing a press statement today, 12 tourism organisations and tourism entrepreneurs urged the government to address their demands through the budget for the fiscal year 2020-21.

They have expressed their concern about COVID-19 and its fallout. They said investments worth trillions would be lost and this would push the tourism sector to the brink of collapse.

Demanding short-term and long-term programmes in the budget for the new fiscal year, they appealed to the government to play the role of tourism-friendly patron and help revitalise the sector, which contributes around three per cent to the country’s GDP.

“Although the newly released policies and programmes have introduced a slew of new plans and programmes, there was neither any plan nor programme to salvage tourism entrepreneurs, which has cast gloom and despair among us,” read the statement.

Nepal Association of Tours and Travel Agents, Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, Hotel Association of Nepal and Nepal Mountaineering Association, among others, jointly appealed to the government to come to their rescue.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 21, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.