Why does the tourism industry in Pokhara and tourism entrepreneurs require prompt intervention from the government?
We had held high hopes from Visit Nepal 2020 which the government launched in early 2020. However, the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 hit us hard. The tourism entrepreneurs had undertaken special projects and borrowed a huge amount of money for business expansion in view of the tourism campaign. All those investments and expansions have turned into a liability due to the pandemic which forced us to shut down our hotel/restaurant properties for months. When the flow of tourists stopped suddenly after the global health emergency was announced, these investments remained unproductive. Almost 70 percent of tourism entrepreneurs have a high burden of loans at present. The government must take us out of this precarious situation. Has the tourism industry returned to the pre-pandemic level? Tourism in Pokhara is yet to come out from the impact of the pandemic. The arrival of tourists has not recovered to the pre-pandemic level. The Yeti Airlines aircraft crash further hit Pokhara tourism when it was trying to come out from the impact of the pandemic. The hotels in Pokhara experienced a lot of cancellations following the crash. How many people and organizations here in Pokhara depend on the tourism sector? How have they contributed to development? There are almost 1,300 hotels running in and around Pokhara. Among them, five percent are star hotel properties. Almost 60 percent of hotels in Pokhara have been providing high-standard services, especially targeting foreign tourists. Similarly, there are almost 200 trekking and travel agencies operating here. Hotels are actually the most influential taxpayers of Pokhara. Why should there be more focus on Pokhara to make it convenient for tourism? Pokhara has more resources than other cities in Nepal. Pokhara is the entry point of world-renowned trekking routes like Annapurna and Mardi Trek. Almost half a dozen mountains over 8,000 meters such as Annapurna, Machhapuchhre, Manaslu, Dhawalagiri are located in this region. On the other hand, a number of wetlands and green hills along with scenic lakes have added value to Pokhara's tourism. The onus lies on the government to prioritize resource allocation for further improving tourism infrastructure and transforming Pokhara into an international tourism center in the true sense. Are you saying that Pokhara has been marginalized in regard to resource allocation? Yes, to some extent. It is because the government and the central bank have not brought programs and policies to support the tourism sector despite knowing the plight of this sector after the pandemic. We have frequently gone to various government agencies asking for a rescue but they did not hear us. Similarly, Nepal Tourism Board is not working in productive ways as a huge amount of its budget has been frozen. The government also hasn't shown interest in cooperating with us while developing tourism infrastructures here. The Pokhara Regional International Airport is one example in this regard. What do tourism entrepreneurs want from the government which would help tourism in Pokhara regain its previous glory? We are looking for an extension of the time to repay the loans. We should be given an additional two years time to complete the loan repayment. However, banks and financial institutions have been knocking at our doors, pressing us to pay the loans immediately. We also want single-digit interest rates on our loans till the flow of tourists returns to the pre-pandemic levels.
