Domestic Brief Hotels hit hard
FROM
ISSUE #76 (11 JAN 2002 - 17 JAN 2002)
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The SAARC summit was a brief respite for Kathmandu's hotels that have been hit by the downturn in tourism. But with the South Asian delegates gone, the rooms are empty again. Now the industry says it wants an immediate bailout plan or else all hotels will shut down. The government has promised to help out by rescheduling loans and offering new soft-loans, but that has not been put into action. It is this delay that is threatening to blow the fuse on the industry, where the investment so far adds up to about Rs 70 billion. According to the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), the industry has borrowed over Rs 15 billion from banks and unpaid interest already adds up to Rs 5 billion. Says HAN President Narendra Bajracharya: "We want a prompt decision, otherwise we won't be able to survive." The industry directly employs about 200,000 people.
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