KATHMANDU: Of late, hotel owners in the Kathmandu valley are heaving a sigh of relief. A large number of bookings were cancelled during the week-long strike call given by Maoists. Now, the sector is witnessing a revival in the business, especially hotel reservation and bookings.
About 10-15 per cent of reservations and booking that were cancelled during a weeklong general strike from May 2 have been reconfirmed. “As the political parties have shown commitment to consensus, hotel booking and reservations for the coming season have improved, with renewal of old cancelled bookings,” said Madhav Om Shrestha.
Majority of cancellation came from Indian tourists, followed by Europeans. “For the tourist season that is after monsoon, it is mainly the European tourist who are willing to travel to Nepal and the bookings are made at least 6 months or a year in advance,” said Shrestha.
“There are a number of reasons for improvements in tourist reservation and bookings,” said Hari Sarmah, Chief Executive Officer, Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA). The main reasons behind the revival are positive information flow, effective marketing, and more international flights. “Tourist arrivals from South-east Asia and European countries have shown an upward trend,” he said. Air connectivity has improved with about two dozen international flights connecting the valley with the rest of the world. “The government has also become lenient and is allowing domestic airlines to operate international flights,” said Sarmah.
The government also needs to help strengthen national carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC). According
to Sarmah, European tourists are mostly re-visitors of our country.
Data from Tribhuvan International Airport’ (TIA) Immigration Office for May reveal that the European markets registered an overall growth of 10.8 per cent with major source markets showing positive trend in terms of visitor arrivals. Arrivals from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Czech Republic and Poland are up by 4.9 per cent, 14.2 per cent, and 47.5 per cent, 12.3 per cent, 20.9 per cent, 75 per cent and 278.6 per cent respectively.
Arrivals from the South Asian region, except for Sri Lanka, have gained an overall growth of 6 per cent, with Bangladesh (30 per cent) and Pakistan (26.3 per cent). Visitor arrivals from India have shown a sustained growth this year and in May increased by 4.3 per cent. |
