Banking News – Prime Minister Walendra Shah has assured hotel entrepreneurs that the government is working at a fast pace to promote Nepal’s tourism sector, urging them not to be concerned about the industry’s future.

During a meeting with office bearers of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said the government has given the private sector the highest priority and encouraged businesses to consider the state as a strong development partner.

Prime Minister Shah urged hotel operators to comply with existing laws, fulfill their business responsibilities, register small and medium-sized hotels with the Department of Tourism, bring them into the tax net, and explore opportunities for collaboration under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

The meeting, attended by Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Khadak Raj Paudel, heard HAN officials state that Nepal’s hotel industry currently has the capacity to serve up to four million tourists annually, although the country currently welcomes around 1.2 million visitors each year. They said increasing tourist arrivals would create more domestic employment opportunities and help reduce the outflow of Nepali youth seeking jobs abroad.

The association also highlighted Nepal’s strong potential to become a destination for wellness tourism, wedding tourism, and cross-border tourism, while presenting several policy recommendations to the government.

Among their key proposals were providing the hotel industry with electricity tariff concessions similar to those enjoyed by other productive industries and increasing the threshold for the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) requirement for small and medium-sized hotels from 25 beds to 50 beds.

HAN representatives also urged the government to fully operationalize the Pokhara and Bhairahawa international airports, improve the services of Nepal Airlines, amend provisions of the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act, 2019 related to trademark royalty payments, and review laws governing the hotel industry.

They further requested the government to simplify procedures for bringing jewelry for destination weddings and promote wellness tourism through comprehensive storytelling and packaged promotional campaigns, supported by industry experts.

The meeting was attended by Acting HAN President Dinesh Tuladhar, General Secretary Sajan Shakya, Treasurer Yuvraj Shrestha, Executive Committee members Jayadin Shrestha and Ashlesha Karki, and Secretariat Chief Tek Bahadur Mahat.