THE TOURISM OF NEPAL IS AT RISK OF BANKRUPTCY

The spring season, in which the climbers from many countries have traditionally climbed the Mount Everest, ended without beginning.  The next season can start only in November, but the people still need to live up to it, because it is tourism that provides the well-being of many residents of the country.  There is practically no hotel business in the country now - about 1300 hotels are closed due to a pandemic until November.  This decision was previously made by the hotel association.

Every year, Nepal was visited by millions of travelers and the funds, received during the spring season, people were spending to live until the beginning of the next one. 

About 8% of GDP of the state was generated by income from the climbers, coming to the country, and tourist services.

In 2019, more than 1.17 million people visited the country. Each of them increased the daily wealth of Nepalese by $ 44.  At the moment, the business is waiting for support from the government bodies, hoping that the state will take the creation of jobs upon itself.

The National Tourism Board (NTB) proposed a project that includes two stages of recovery for the industry after conducting research on the impact of the pandemic on the tourism sector of the kingdom’s economy. At the first (survival) stage, the government is encouraged to develop domestic tourism immediately after the removal of existing restrictions. 

It was recommended to provide the income tax - brakes for public servants (teachers, doctors, officials) in the amount of 50 thousand Nepalese rupees per person in cases when the money is spent on travel within the country.

According to the NTB analysts, this will significantly increase the cost share of 7 million civil servants, no more than 1.8 million of whom regularly travel around the country, using about 4% of their income.  Losses in the state treasury for such travel subsidies in the amount of 3.7 billion Nepalese rupees, as the NTB representatives believe, will be paid back in the form of taxes on the tourism sector revenues.

The second stage, which representatives of the national tourism council call revival, is associated with a gradual access to foreign the markets.  According to the experts, it would be imprudent to wait for a large influx of people from Europe and America, wishing to look at the Everest.  Therefore, it is proposed to focus on neighboring countries - China and India.  The project assumes an active role of the state in providing appropriate packages of support and investment to the industry.  However, it is still unknown whether the ruling circles of Nepal will eventually accept it