Source::The Kathmandu Post
Finally, after having the third wave of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, Nepal through rising vaccination rates is in the position to open up and rejuvenate and revive the tourism and travel industry which has been battered for the past two years. But with Tourism Industry and the Nepal Tourism Board with no policy, the tourism industry has been aimless and has no clue where to progress to.
The spring tourist season officially begins next week with the mountaineering season soon to come, there is a massive opportunity for Nepal to recover from the effects of the pandemic. But industry insiders and tourism entrepreneurs say that there have been no decisive measures made by the government to revive the sector.
While the tourism revival committee has been formed, it only has urged businesses related to giving discounts to foreign visitors. With foreign visitors yet to come back in pre-pandemic levels, this would only hurt businesses trying to recover from the plunge of visitors to Nepal. In addition, the committee has also requested domestic airlines to discount fares charged in US dollars.
With Tourism Minister Prem Ale and Nepal Tourism Board being at heads with each other, a unified post-pandemic recovery plan is unlikely to happen. There have been some commendable recommendations that will help the sector if they are implemented. The committee has pressured the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC) to ease travel restrictions especially by removing RT-PCR testing requirements for travellers to enter Nepal.
But many stakeholders in the industry have said that the government has not done enough for the tourism industry. The businesses are willing to give a discount but for that to happen, the tourists and travellers need to come. They are expecting the government to launch promotional programmes abroad in target markets where COVID-19 is tapering off.
