September 14: The Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) is all set to organize the Nepal Hospitality Conclave for the first time in Nepal in collaboration with BeanstalkAsia Nepal and WaterComm. According to HAN, the first edition of the conclave is to be held on September 25 at the Soaltee Hotel Kathmandu for which the registrations are now open.

HAN President Shreejana Rana said in a statement that Nepal's first hospitality conclave will help find solutions to the current problems faced by the hotel sector and the ones that might arise in the future.

“Attention will be given to innovative ways of marketing to keep afloat the business that is recovering in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the statement quoted Rana as saying. It is believed that the conclave will play a central role in maintaining the standard of Nepal’s hospitality industry and overall tourism development through a day of discussion with national and international industry experts. 

Senior Vice President of HAN, Binayak Shah, said that the number of tourists seen in the world market after the outbreak of coronavirus is limited, but since the market is open to all, it is a challenge to bring tourists to Nepal.

"There is an intense competition in the world market to attract tourists, pre-bookings have become common now," Shah said, adding, "We want to bring more tourists to Nepal. For this, we are going to hold a conference to decide the strategy to be adopted and to see the practices of other countries. The competition has increased, so a new strategy is necessary.”

According to Shah, the tourism sector is going towards normalcy and it seems that the budget allocated by the government and monetary policy as well as the programmes announced so far will not be sufficient to revitalize the tourism industry.

There will be 7 sessions on different topics at the conclave. These sessions will come up with suggestions on policy and long-term policies to be adopted for the operation of the hotels and they will be presented to the relevant agencies of the government for implementation, the statement released by HAN says.

According to Subodh Thapa, the co-founder of the conclave, the goal of the conclave is to help the Nepali Hospitality Industry thrive by uniting all the representatives from its cross section for a day of discussion about the industry trends with the industry experts. NHC also provides a pavilion to exhibit relevant products and services, and a platform to network amongst each other.

The title sponsor of the Nepal Hospitality Conclave is the Sagtani Exim. The registration for the conclave is now open and the tickets can be purchased through the official website of the conclave (http://www.nepalhospitalityconclave.biz/) along with additional information regarding the event.