It’s virtually spring, however tourism trade is already watching a dry season

Usually at this time of year the owner of a trekking company, Khum Bahadur Subedi, is busy with hundreds of clients who enjoy hiking the Himalayan trails.

His company Unique Adventure International specializes in making arrangements for thrill seekers who want to explore Nepal’s mountains and enjoy the breathtaking scenery.

This is when the tourism season in Nepal begins and climbers and hikers would populate the legendary regions of Annapurna and Everest.

Adventure sports lovers would come to Pokhara and sightseers would head to the tropical jungles of Chitwan.

The hectic peak tourist season lasts until May and brings in a flurry of revenue to fuel the economy and create jobs.

Covid-19 had made the past year a total disaster for the Nepalese tourism industry. And travel traders really hoped that the tourists would come back in the coming year.

But Subedi sees another disastrous year ahead of him. “To survive a year with no income is difficult. And after a year, the government is still not paying attention to the industry, ”he said.

Travel industry entrepreneurs say that despite the opening of all tourist activities, they do not hope that arrivals will recover to 10 percent of pre-Covid-19 levels.

Many tourism workers who had been on leave or laid off expected the tourists to return and be called back to work this year.

Tourism entrepreneurs also expected a financial recovery.

But all plans to revitalize the ailing tourism industry have gone down the drain, said Subedi, who is also president of the Trekking Agents Association of Nepal.

“The government ignored the problems in the industry,” said Subedi.

Fed up with repeated assurances from the government to support the tourism industry, around 37 different tourism organizations announced plans to take to the streets on Monday.

They have warned that if the government doesn’t address the grievances in the industry and work out a plan to attract tourists, they will have no choice but to protest.

Her demands include lifting the five-day quarantine for foreigners whose negative PCR reports were generated within 72 hours of departure, resuming the visa facility upon arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, and lifting the Covid-19 insurance requirement of Open USD 5,000 for travel to Nepal and the border with China.

Last October, Nepal opened the door to hikers and climbers, almost seven months after the country imposed a complete lockdown.

In December, the government restored all tourist visas. At Tribhuvan International Airport, arrival only visas have been issued to representatives and families of diplomatic missions, United Nations agencies, international organizations and non-resident Nepalis.

Travel industry entrepreneurs have submitted several dozen recommendations to facilitate tourist movement, but none have been implemented so far.

“We’re really confused,” said Subedi. “If the government does not intervene in time, we will definitely miss the spring tourist season from March to May again this year, which brings high-end climbers and trekkers and provides jobs for tens of thousands of people, especially in the mountainous region. ”

Travel industry entrepreneurs wonder why the government is imposing quarantine on foreign tourists when tens of thousands of political protesters are free to march through the streets.

Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations broke out across Nepal and the two factions of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal shouted matches following the dissolution of parliament by Prime Minister Oli on December 20.

The move has sparked the specter of political instability, the tourism industry’s biggest curse. Just as spring is here, a good season for the tourism industry, the time for protests is back.

From hotels to airlines and from porters to high-altitude climbing guides, everyone is cautiously waiting for the spring season, which typically accounts for a third of the 1.2 million annual arrivals.

The coronavirus crisis resulted in an 80.78 percent drop in tourist influx in 2020. This was the worst year-on-year decline since Nepal opened up to the outside world in the 1950s.

According to the Department statistics Last year, only 230,085 foreign tourists visited Nepal, roughly the same as in 1986. Most of them arrived before the country hit entry restrictions on March 20.

The year 2021 started disappointingly. Nepal received fewer than 9,000 foreign visitors in January.

Nearly 300,000 people directly employed in the tourism industry have lost their jobs during the pandemic, according to a survey by the Nepal Tourism Board. Among them, more than 88,000 were in restaurants, followed by 67,000 in hotels and 51,000 in trekking and mountaineering.

“Tourists are ready to come. We have a large number of inquiries from them, but the process to Nepal is very difficult, ”said Achyut Guragain, President of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents, one of the oldest tourism associations in Nepal.

Guragain said that visas for foreign tourists are still restricted on arrival, which means they must go to Nepal’s embassies and diplomatic missions overseas to obtain the visas.

“There are around 37 embassies and diplomatic missions abroad, while tourists come to Nepal from 205 countries. This shows how serious the government is about revitalizing the tourism industry, ”Guragain said.

Three weeks ago, Tourism Minister Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal announced that Nepal was considering giving vaccinated tourists unrestricted access in order to boost the morale of the dying tourism industry ahead of the upcoming high season in spring.

There would be no quarantine and coronavirus insurance requirements, and all visitors would have to provide proof that they took the recordings. Many countries have started issuing vaccine certificates or passports for international travelers.

Dhakal said the ministry has also recommended resuming issuing visas on arrival to all tourists at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

According to ministerial officials, they have tabled these proposals at cabinet meetings on several occasions, but with no result.

According to representatives from the Nepal Tourism Board, most embassies and missions don’t even pick up the phones in their offices.

“Encouraging tourists to visit Nepal is a long way off,” said a board official who refused to be named.

The government still bans independent travelers from trekking.

Foreign visitors must come in a group, and they must have recommendations from trekking companies if they want to hike the mountain trails, according to the board officials.

The Chinese border crossings are still closed to foreign visitors. “There are no flights between China. We don’t know why, ”said Guragain. “The government is killing tourism.”

According to Binayak Shah, vice president of the Hotel Association Nepal, they have welcomed 15,000-20,000 Chinese tourists annually during the Chinese New Year, except in 2020.

That year, the Chinese New Year started on February 12, but there were almost no travelers from the northern neighbor as flights still haven’t resumed, according to Shah.

“Spring is coming and we don’t have any plans yet,” said Shah. “As of now, advance bookings are disappointing.”