Crisis management team to help tourists

Effective preparations to support tourists during strikes and bandh

Tourism Crisis Management Committee is actively coming up with plans to support and facilitate tourists during bandh and strike programmes.
“We are making effective preparations to tackle the situation and help tourists during bandh and agitation programmes,” Bikram Neupane, coordinator of Tourism Crisis Management Committee and Security, and chairman of Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA) said.

Frequent strikes and bandh is affecting tourism industry.

Decline in the number of tourists arrival, cancellation of hotel bookings and reservations are negative impacts paralysing the tourism industry. Though, the Tourism Crisis Management Committee was formed a year ago to provide special facilities and packages to avoid inconvenience to tourists during any kind of disruption, it is now planning to develop precautionary measures packages in affiliation

with hotels and restaurants for tourists during bandhs. "It is also starting shuttle services in coordination with locals at remote areas incase of transportation strike and use identical uniforms for people working in tourists transportation during emergency situations," Neupane said adding that there are also concerns shown by different tourism entrepreneurs to grant facilitation in visa during Nepal Tourism Year 2011.
Meanwhile, Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) has said that most of the hotels had bookings and reservations cancellation due to the recent general strike. “Indian tourists and European tourists did majority of the hotel booking cancellations,” informed Madhav Om Shrestha, executive chairman

of HAN.
“Due to the general strike hotel sector faced a total loss of about one billion,” he said adding that there is a need to flow positive information to avoid tourists decline in the next peak season. “We are suffering losses due to booking cancellation of May, June and July but we have to make up our loss in the next season,” Shrestha said. “The cancelled booking also has higher possibilities to get revised if peace and security is maintained in the coming months.” According to TIA immigra

tion office, this is the eleventh consecutive month that has witnessed growth in the international tourists arrival confirming the improved prospects for Nepal due to the rising business and consumer confidence. In the first four months of 2010 a robust 21 per cent cumulative growth has been observed in comparison with the same period last year.
However, tourism entrepreneurs opined that there must be special publicity programmes and flow of positive informations to help increase the tourist arrivals.

Hotel booking cancellation Hotel De l Annapurna 20 pc Hotel Everest 20 pc Hotel Malla 30 pc Hotel Radisson 30 pc Hotel Shangri-La 7 pc Hotel Soaltee 50 pc Hotel Shanker 25 pc (Source: Hotel Association of Nepal) May arrivals to decline KATHMANDU: The number of tourists arrival is likely to drop in May compared to the same period last year due to Icelandic volcanic eruption that has disturbed airlines services across Europe and general strike in Nepal.