The economy of every country in the world, small or large, has been affected by the Nobel coronavirus. As all the countries and economies of the world will be affected, our country and economy will not remain untouched. This article seeks to briefly analyze the impact of the various sectors of the economy on the tourism sector and its impact.
In 2018, the contribution of the tourism industry to Nepal's economy was around Rs 68 billion. This is 2.2 percent of the gross domestic product. It is no exaggeration to say that Nepal is an attractive destination for tourists from all over the world.
If a person spends more than 24 hours outside his country, he is considered a tourist. In this way, he uses various resources and means to reach and stay outside his country. For example, every tourist usually travels by air, water, or land. They stay in hotels, resorts, or other accommodation in the destination. Uses local vehicles for his work. There are restaurants and cafes to satisfy hunger. Take the help of travels, tours, and guides when needed. Buys local things.
He returns using other services and facilities found during the journey. Namely, the above-mentioned vehicle companies, hotels, restaurants, tables, and tour companies, shopping malls, and other bodies providing services and facilities are considered as the tourism industry.
Nepal, which aims to attract 2 million tourists by celebrating 2020 as the year of tourism has been suffering from Nobel coronavirus infection since the beginning of the year.
About 80,000 tourists visited Nepal in January. Then it decreased even more.
How much is the impact?
It estimates that there will be a loss of between 9 trillion and 12 trillion worldwide and that 100 to 120 million jobs directly linked to tourism will be at risk. The effects of coronavirus on tent tourism are said to be extremely serious. Nepal has a lot to do with tourism. Airlines, hotels, and many other supply networks are connected to it. Studying the impact on all of this, one trillion rupees have been lost since the beginning of 2020 alone.
By 2018, there will be about 1300 hotels with a capacity of 41,000 beds. Now is the time to fill these beds at an average of about 70 percent. But due to the coronavirus, the condition of these hotels is critical. The hotel sector with an investment of around Rs 400 billion has been negatively affected. In addition, large hotel projects are currently under construction across the country. Even the hotels under construction have been affected by the coronavirus.
Similarly, the effects of coronavirus have been seen in the aviation sector. Corona is a contagious disease that has affected not only international but also domestic airlines. Of the 49 airports in Nepal, 35 are currently in operation. There are 31 perennial operations. The number of domestic flights and the number of passengers from these airports in the last five years until 2018 is as follows.Currently, this number has increased. But due to Corona, the number has dropped dramatically.
Tourism has provided direct employment to four and a half hundred thousand people in Nepal, seasonal employment to three and a half hundred thousand people and 1.1 million people are indirectly dependent on it.
Mass affected
Tourist guides who make a living from the service charges they receive are now out of work.
There were about 5,000 licensed guides working here. Most of them earned their living independently. These freelancer guides are in the most trouble right now. They are living on their savings. They have no insurance and no one has given them relief.
The story of restaurants and hotels is similar.
Hotel Association Nepal has 3,500 tourist hotels in the country and employed one hundred thousand people directly and four hundred thousand people in the overall hospitality sector. Now they are all closed.
There are three types of problems, especially for the three-class hotels. In the second category are hotels of international chains built or being built with new investments that are plagued by bank loans and interest. The third category includes small tourist hotels and this group occupies 95 percent of the hotels. They are in trouble to pay the rent as they operate on a lot of rent. Like hotels, 'tourist level' restaurants that depend on tourism are also facing difficulties.
There are an estimated 4,000 such as restaurants across the country. Each of them now affects 20 to 30 people directly, as well as tens of thousands of other people who earn their living by selling vegetables, milk, and food. Unemployed, he has not been able to pay his salary, and most of them have not been able to pay their rent. Before, we used to pay taxes to the state when we earned money. Some landlords are dependent on rent themselves, so we have to make a policy on paying rent for both of us. If we are saved now, we will pay taxes tomorrow.
What are the rescue efforts?
Many European countries are slowly opening up the tourism industry. Safe tourism has been started there by bringing various standards of health. The standard of safe operation has been formulated in Nepal to include all types of tourism.
A detailed report has been submitted to the government by adapting the safety standards from the World Health Organization and the World Tourism Organization to Nepal. If that is implemented, it is hoped that Nepal will be able to follow the path of safe tourism without falling behind others.
The budget has tried to solve the problems of this sector in three ways as per their recent suggestions.
First of all, around Rs. 50 billion has been allocated to secure employment here and there is an attempt to promote domestic tourism through policy arrangements like DeshDarshan and other financial assistance. But there seems to be a practical difficulty in consuming some of the facilities. In particular, there are things that show taxes and income tax payments that can be difficult to show for lower-class workers. They may not get these facilities because they are at high risk.
Look at domestic tourism
Given the uncertainty about the end of the pandemic, the timing of its resurgence may vary from country to country. Experts in the field of tourism say that domestic tourism should be promoted first in order to revive the declining tourism. First of all, travel packages like Deshdarshan should be made by businessmen to increase domestic tourism. Then in the second phase, we should attract tourists from neighboring countries like India and China and in the final phase, we should welcome tourists from far and wide.
The first priority should be domestic tourism. Last year, 1.3 million Nepalese went abroad for tourism. We can create an environment for about 2.5 million Nepalese to travel within the country, including them. It's not all about our tourism, it's about many.
On the whole, there is no doubt that the Corona has had a huge impact on our economy and even our livelihood, even though it has not affected our country and us. If only 50 percent of the tourism sector's figures are affected this year compared to last year's, the economic growth target we have set will be undermined. It is also a time of testing for our politicians and those in charge of the economy. The pandemic, tourism experts from around the world say that people are more attracted to religious, cultural, and natural tourism. It is said that Nepal can take advantage of that. If 2020 is taken as the year of saving tourism and if it is revived in 2021 and brought to the level of 2019, Nepal can take the path of growth again from 2022.
Great...proud of you
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