SANGAM

Tourist arrivals stir hotel industry

SANGAM PRASAIN
KATHMANDU, JUL 21 - With increased tourist arrivals and Nepal Tourism Year 2011 approaching, two new three-star hotels and 64 non-star hotels have started operations across the country.

Three-star hotels Opera Hotel and Ratna Hotel have opened in Bhimdatta, Kanchanpur and Biratnagar respectively. The Opera has 30 rooms while the Ratna has 34 rooms. With these entrants, the number of three-star hotels in the country has reached 19.

Opera has an authorised capital of Rs. 20 million, while Ratna has an investment of more than Rs. 10 million. Opera was licenced in Feb. 2010 and Ratna in Sept. 2009. While other hotels need not acquire a separate licence from the authorities, tourist-based ones are required to have one.

The decade-long insurgency and labour unrest had compelled a number of star hotels to shut down. However, the end of the conflict and Nepal Tourism Year have encouraged the travel trade and hospitality sector.

Krishna Subedi, an official at the Industrial Division, Hotel Section, said that Nepal Tourism Year and simplification of regulations concerning the tourism and hospitality sector had stimulated investors.

Madhav Om Shrestha, executive director of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), said that investors had become interested in the hospitality and tourism business. “If the law and order situation improves, it won’t take much time for this sector to take off,” he added.

HAN said that it would be organising promotional campaigns for Nepal Tourism Year in China, France, the UK, Germany and other destinations.

According to the Economic Survey 2009/10, the number of star hotels in the country has reached 97 (excluding Opera). There are 10 five-star hotels (eight of them in the capital), two four-star hotels, 19 three-star hotels, 31 two-star hotels and 37 one-star hotels.

Similarly, there are 639 tourist standard hotels out of which 348 are located in the Kathmandu Valley. Non-star hotels number 647. Altogether, the country has 745 hotels with 14,330 rooms and 28,551 beds.

Year Stars Non-Stars

No Beds No Beds

2004 110 10715 886 28392

2005 110 10715 896 28669

2006 105 9763 502 14497

2007 105 9763 512 14897

2008 96 9320 573 16743

2009(updated) 98 9427 647 19124

(Sources: Economic Survey 2009/10 and MoTCA)