Banke. Around 150 mid-range hotels have closed in Nepalgunj in the past three years due to the decline in business activity. Despite the addition of large-scale star hotels, the profession of mid-range hoteliers in Nepalgunj is in crisis.
Hundreds of citizens working there have lost their jobs due to the closure of mid-range hotels, said Nepalgunj hotelier Bhim Kandel. According to him, although the hotel business is expected to recover after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, 150 mid-range hotels have closed in Nepalgunj, while even star-rated hotels have not been able to operate properly.
‘Nepalgunj is the center of three provinces of western Nepal. Friends who once invested enthusiastically in the hotel sector are now in trouble,’ said Kandel, who is the first vice-chairman of the Lumbini Province Committee of the Hotel Entrepreneurs’ Federation. ‘In the last three years alone, 150 hotels have closed, some of those entrepreneurs have gone abroad, while others have returned to their villages.’
Ranga Bahadur Khadka, President of the Hotel Entrepreneurs’ Federation, Banke, said that the economic slowdown after the COVID-19 pandemic is putting hotel entrepreneurs in Nepalgunj in crisis. .
‘It is barely full for one or two days a month, the rest of the days are empty,’ said Chairman Khadka, ‘We have been forced to close as we are unable to cover the rent, loan, interest and employee expenses.’
A large number of medium-sized hotels with a minimum investment of Rs. 200,000 to Rs. 20 million are in operation in Nepalgunj. Chairman Khadka says that hundreds of citizens have lost their jobs due to the closure of mid-range hotels.
Nepalgunj Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Tank Dhami said that with the implementation of federalism, the relocation of provincial-level government and non-governmental offices in Nepalgunj to Butwal and Dang has led to a decrease in business activity here. He says that the provincial and local governments should bring a relief ‘package’ targeting the hotel industry, which is facing economic crisis.
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