Hotel bookings for the upcoming tourist season September to March has increased. "Hotel bookings have gone up by said Bharat Joshi, marketing director of the Hotel Yak & Yeti. "We're encouraged by the booking."
The encouraging reservations give indication that star hotels will have more international guests compared to last year. "The new season looks rosy," said Raju Bikram Shah, senior general manager of the Hotel Shangri-la. "The occupancy rate for October-November is 85 percent."
"We have received very good response from tourists making reservation for this season," said Joshi. "With the number of international seminars increasing, the hotel booking is very good."
There are two major programmes related to tourism being organised in September. The Non-Resident Nepalis (NRN) Conference is also going to take place from Oct. 26.
Joshi said that bookings at the Hotel Yak & Yeti were around 70 percent and most of the tourists making reservations were from France. "So far, 800 French tourists have made reservations with us," he added. The hotel has 270 rooms including deluxe rooms. According to Joshi, bookings improved one month before the start of the new tourist season. Om Shrestha, executive director of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) said that reduced road obstructions and other violent activities have created a favourable atmosphere for receiving good reservations.
"If the country does not face turmoil like in the past, the Nepal Tourism Year 2011 will be successful," said Shrestha. "The hotel booking rate may increase by 20 percent as a whole by the end of October." There are 1,200 hotels across the country with a capacity of 18,000 rooms and 30,000 beds.
The government in last year's budget had decided to designate 2011 as Nepal Tourism Year with the aim of bringing one million tourists to the country. As per the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB)'s report, tourist arrivals by air increased by 4 percent in 2008 with the total number of tourists in 2008 crossing the 500,000 mark.
With the booking cancellation rate decreasing this year, there are less chances of bearing loss by hotel entrepreneurs. "This year, bookings have increased and the chances of cancellation have also come down," said Amir Kumar Pradhananga, front office manager of the Everest Hotel. He said that even if tourists cancelled their bookings, the rooms would be provided to other tourists in the waiting list.
Most of the tourists making reservations with the Everest Hotel are from Japan followed by tourists from the EU countries. Pradhananga said that the current room booking status of the hotel was 80 percent.
Not only five-star hotels but four-star hotels are also getting good reservations for this season.
"This year, bookings have increase by 7 percent compared to the bookings of the same period last year," said Nabin Rawat, front office supervisor of the Hotel Vaishali.
He said that the tourists making reservations at the hotel were from the EU countries, the U.S.A.
and Japan. The average room rate for October-November has also gone up. |
