By Keshab Raj Poudel, Kathmandu, Mar. 5: Trekking Agency Associations Nepal’s (TAAN) secretary, Damodar Dhakal said, “We thought that we would not have to face any disaster greater than the 2015 earthquake, but COVID-19 fallout has created still far greater threat to the tourism industry now.”

“During the earthquake, the entire world was together with us, helping us to heal the wounds of the quake,” said Dhakal. “Now, the entire world is reeling in the threat of the virus.”

As the tourists have started cancelling their hotel bookings in Nepal, along with the threat of the epidemic, our entire business is at risk, he added.

Around 200 small and 30 big trekking businesses are currently running in Nepal.

During this peak season, the trekking business used to provide accommodation service to over 400,000 tourists but this year, everyone in tourism business has been affected by the fallout of the deadly epidemic.

Dhakal said that most of the tourists used to enter Nepal from China and India. “As China is the epicenter of the outbreak, the future of tourism business on the whole is under threat.”

Dhakal said that tourism business was likely to suffer loss of billions of rupees.

Likewise, Tek Bahadur Mahat, chief operating officer of Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), said that it was about time to declare emergency in hotel business fraternity in Nepal.

February didn’t witness fall in number of tourists but as the tourists have started cancelling bookings for the upcoming seasons, the risk of hotel business is only increasing, he added.

“The tourism sector is in a state of asking for help from the government, where it should instead be supporting the government to curb the fallout of epidemic,” Mahat added.

Mahat said that the virus effect was likely to affect tourism sector for a long-term. The tourism sector of Katmandu and elsewhere is at a huge risk, he added.

Meanwhile, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) has started consulting with other stakeholders about the necessary steps to be taken considering the risk of COVID-19.

Maniraj Lamichhane, spokesperson of the board, said, “We’ve been coordinating with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and other concerned authorities to adopt measures to minimise the risk of tourism industry.”

The Tourism Board has also started researching the measures adopted by other countries to reduce the operation costs of hotels and tourism amidst the outbreak of the virus.

“Discussions were held with the ministry to request the Nepal Rastra Bank to reduce interest rates,” said Lamichhane. “Banks in countries like India, Hong Kong have started adopting this measure.”

The board has been striving to provide relief packages to the hotels and to prevent and reduce the risk of COVID-19 in tourism sector, added Lamichhane.