Tourist accommodation expands by 5,000 rooms

Rising travel demand prompted tourist standard hotels and lodges across the country to add more than 5,357 new rooms in the last fiscal year, revealed a survey entitled Economic Activities Report 2013-14 conducted by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

The survey was done in eight major city areas—Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birgunj, Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi—spread across 47 districts.

The results showed that the 1,792 hotels and lodges could produce 36,371 room nights daily.

This means Nepal can accommodate 13.27 million tourists annually with the existing infrastructure. Room nights or bed numbers of hotels grew 17.27 percent from the previous year.

Meanwhile, the number of hotels and lodges saw a significant growth of 14.50 percent in the last fiscal year.

“The rise in accommodation and improvement in services indicates a better situation in the country which could lead to increased travel movement in this fiscal year,” the survey said.

Kathmandu has the highest number of tourist standard hotels and lodges followed by Pokhara and Birgunj. In the last fiscal year, 62 new hotels and lodges were added in Kathmandu producing an additional 2,559 rooms.

Of the total accommodation facilities available in Nepal, 30 percent (540 hotels and lodges) are located in Kathmandu.

The survey shows that 290,891 tourists visited Kathmandu in the last fiscal, 66,905 of whom were Indians.

The Kathmandu area includes Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Sindhupalchok, Kavrepa-lanchok, Dhading, Nuwakot, Rasuwa and Dolakha districts in the survey.

Similarly, 57 new tourist standard hotels and lodges came up in the lakeside city of Pokhara in the last fiscal year. There are 513 hotels in Pokhara producing 9,763 rooms per night. The survey shows that tourist arrivals to Pokhara jumped sharply by 140 percent to 173,207 in the last fiscal.

The number of hotels in Birgunj increased 19.31 percent to 346. They produce 10,331 rooms per night. Birgunj received 178,507

tourists including 47,907 Indian visitors. Birgunj attracts the largest number of Indian visitors.

Likewise, Nepalgunj saw a 23.03 percent growth in the number of hotels and lodges. The city added 38 new tourist standard hotels last year and produces 3,242 rooms per night. It received 23,334 tourists including 21,681 Indian visitors.

The eastern city of Biratnagar added seven new hotels and reached a total of 97 in the last fiscal year.

With 1,849 rooms last year, it hosted 49,360 tourists, down 0.5 percent from the previous fiscal. The survey showed that 40,313 Indian tourists visited Biratnagar last year.

No new hotels were added in Janakpur and Dhangadhi last year. Janakpur produces 1,275 room nights daily. The survey showed that Janakpur received 48,495 tourists in the last fiscal, among whom 45,590 were Indians.

Likewise, tourist movement in Dhangadhi grew 27.49 percent to 12,502 in the last fiscal year. There are 21 hotels and lodges in Dhangadhi producing 844 room nights daily.   

Meanwhile, tourist movement in Bhairahawa dropped significantly by 27.29 percent to 109,508 in the last fiscal year.

Of the total arrivals, Indians numbered 2,130. Bhairahawa added seven new hotels and reached a total of 29, and produces 1,150 rooms per night.

source: The kathmandu post, 12 Dec 2014