SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, FEB 21 -
International airlines and hotels have reported healthy bookings for the coming peak tourist season. March, April and May attract adventure and leisure tourists to Nepal.
Hoteliers are expecting a 10 percent higher occupancy rate this season compared to the same period in 2010. "We are hopeful that our occupancy will cross 80 percent," said Raju Bikram Shah, general manager of the Hotel Shangri-La. Hotel bookings by Indian travellers have been high for March compared to last year, Shah added.
"Airline booking statistics from the major gateways connecting Nepal— Delhi, Bangkok, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Bahrain— show strong inbound bookings beginning from the first week of March,” said Shyam Raj Thapaliya, managing director of Osho World Travel Nepal.
A recent study done by Nielsen Company in association with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) shows that Indian arrivals to Nepal have remained constant since 2008. Nepal occupied the fifth place for Indian leisure travellers after Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Thailand and Switzerland. The Nepal Tourism Year campaign has targeted 265,000 Indian travellers this year. “Following Indians, bookings by Korean, Italian, French and Chinese travellers have also shown a positive indication this season,” Shah said.
“Considering the current booking trend, we are hopeful that occupancy will cross 80 percent in March and be higher in April,” said Bharat Joshi, sales and marketing director of the Hotel Yak & Yeti. “The UN, embassies, INGOs and other international agencies have been taking the initiative to promote Nepal in recent times.” These international agencies have been recommending Nepal as the perfect place for MICE activities which has resulted in hotels seeing a rise in the MICE segment.
The government has also announced Rs 500,000 incentive to any organiser holding MICE programme involving more than 100 foreign passport holders entering Nepal through air route. The incentive will be provided within seven days of the completion of such programme upon submission of evidence and relevant documents.
The Soaltee Hotel has targeted to increase room occupancy by 8-10 percent this season, said the hotel.
However, mountaineering agencies said that bookings for expeditions had not picked up as expected this season. “Travellers now have lots of options. The mountains in India, Pakistan and China are attracting aspirant mountaineers,” said Ang Tshering Sherpa, former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.
Although the government has announced different schemes to attract mountaineers particularly to Western Nepal, lack of transportation and infrastructure has kept the sector isolated. “The reason behind the slow bookings can also be attributed to the cost of climbing peaks in Nepal which is lower in neighbouring countries,” Sherpa said.
Tourist arrivals have bounced back in 2010 breaking all past records. Arrivals by air in 2010 reached 448,769 surpassing the highest ever of 421,243 in 1999.
