May 3: Binayak Shah, the newly-elected president of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), has emphasized that Nepal should prioritise strong connectivity to attract tourists to the country. He said that the hotels in Nepal can serve 3.5 million tourists, and stressed that connectivity by air and road should be made strong.

He said that the government should take the initiative to strengthen the connectivity with the two neighbours as millions of tourists from India and China travel abroad annually. Shah said that the private sector is capable of providing services to tourists, but the government has not been able to bring the two new international airports into operation.

He claimed that the country can bring in a significant number of tourists by making the best use of Pokhara and Gautam Buddha international airports. 

"It's not that there is no improvement in road and air infrastructure, but the pace is slow. Air accidents are also happening in Nepal and there is a problem because the European Union (EU) has also blacklisted us," Shah said.

He added that there is a problem in bringing in tourists from two neighbouring countries because of the poor quality of roads. 

Currently, 4,500 big and small hotels are associated with HAN, which creates more than 1.1 million jobs directly and indirectly, he shared. 

According to Shah, the investment in the hotel sector is equal to the annual budget of the government, i.e. more than Rs 1600 billion. He estimates that the investment in the hotel business will increase when the number of tourists reaches 1.8 million annually.

According to the Nepal Tourism Board, the highest number of tourists came to Nepal in 2019 when around 1.2 million tourists visited the country. However, this has slowed down after the onset of Covid-19, Since the beginning of the year 2023, there has been a continuous improvement in arrival of tourists. According to the data released by the board on Tuesday, in the first four months of this year, a total of 326,000 tourists arrived in Nepal via air route.

Shah said that there is a positive situation in the business as hotels are being occupied by domestic tourists, weddings and other events. 

In the 48th annual general meeting of HAN, he committed to solve the issues of the hoteliers not being able to pay the interests of the bank. He said that these issues will be raised in the review of the monetary policy of the current fiscal year and also in the budget of the next year.

Stating that during the time of the then Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, the hotel business was included in the national priority list, Shah said, "The sector should be recognized as an industry."

Similarly, he emphasized that when the government advances any matter related to the tourism sector, it should be discussed and coordinated with the private sector. 

He added that within 1 to 2 years, Nepal needs to organize mega tourism events to attract tourists and the private sector is ready for that.