POKHARA, SEPTEMBER 29
Tourism entrepreneurs in Pokhara have complained that high interest rate in bank and finance loans has made it challenging to sustain business.
Speaking at a programme here today, they said the double-digit interest rate had pushed the business on the verge of collapse.
Pokhara Tourism Council Chair Pom Narayan Shrestha demanded facility of soft loan for them to revive the business hit hard by the 2015 earthquakes and COVID-19 pandemic.
The festival reception was organised by Women Tourism Entrepreneurs Forum on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami and Deepawali festivals.
Shrestha complained that financial institutions had increased the interest rate for loans of late, thereby posing a grave threat to business.
"The rise in interest rate is capable of causing additional financial crisis in business and displacing them," he said. He sought government intervention to protect the tourism industry.
He took time to urge the government to create an investment-friendly atmosphere for sustainability of business and come up with a policy that ensures subsidised loan to entrepreneurs.
"Tourism is the major basis for economic prosperity, so the government is expected to adopt a tourism-friendly policy," he asserted, adding that there had already been delay on the part of the government to come up with a protective approach for the tourism business.
President of Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry Pawan Prajapati expressed the view that women's participation in business had increased in recent times, which would play a significant role in economic transformation. "The PCCI is determined to move ahead by collaborating with women entrepreneurs involved in tourism for economic empowerment of women," he shared.
Similarly, Founder Chairperson of WOTEF Jamuna Parajuli pointed out the need of common thought and concept of all to resolve the problems seen in the tourism sector. "Although women's presence and participation has increased in the tourism sector, they have not yet reached the decision-making level," Parajuli mentioned.
Chairperson of the organisation Parbati Pandey, expressed the view that a forum should be provided to women entrepreneurs involved in tourism by evaluating their contribution.
She presented the reality that they were still deprived of many opportunities as there was the tendency to view the subject matter from a male perspective, saying it was a women's organisation.
Likewise, Chairperson of Hotel Association Pokhara Laxman Subedi, Chairperson of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents, Gandaki, Hariram Adhikari, Adviser Durga Dhakal, Vice-president of Federation of Nepali Journalists, Kaski, Jamuna Barsha Sharma, among others, also expressed their views.
Members of the organisation as well as chairpersons and representatives of tourism related organisations were present.
A version of this article appears in the print on September 30, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
