Booking figures disappoint Pokhara hoteliers

POKHARA, Aug 10: Hotels in Pokhara have received very few bookings for the October-November season compared to last year even though the new tourist season is beginning in three weeks.

Booking in most of the big hotels in Pokhara is still below 50 percent. Most of the hotels in Pokhara would receive full occupancy by this time last year.Tulsi Lamichhane, operation manager of The Yatra Courtyard Hotel in Lakeside, said that they were not satisfied with the booking figures for the coming season. The 48-room hotel, which came into operation from January, has received bookings for only 20 percent of its rooms so far. "Based on enquiries from travel agencies, we are hopeful that the booking will cross 50 percent. But we cannot be assure of it," Lamichhane said, adding that most of the booking for October-November has come from Japanese market.

According to Lamichhane, hotel booking would increase significantly if arrivals from China increased.

Chinese tourists mostly books 10 days before their arrival unlike tourists from other countries who make plans months before.

Local hoteliers say room booking figures used to cross the 90 percent mark one month before the beginning of peak tourist season in the past years. But this year, booking is very low due to impact of the April 25 earthquake, they said.

Raj Kumar KC, general manager of Hotel Barahi, said they were happy with 90 percent booking at this time of year last year. "This year, booking has remained below 50 percent," he said, adding, "We do believe that tourists will come. But we cannot be confident unless we get the booking finalized."

Bharat Raj Parajuli, president of Paschimanchal Hotel Association Pokhara, said the coming season is going to be disappointing. "Last year at this time of year, we had received around 60 percent booking for September and 90 percent for peak season October-November. This year booking for October-November is still below 50 percent," he said. "If we get around 60 percent booking for October-November, it will spread positive message. It will help us in the spring season next year."

Parajuli said tourism entrepreneurs need to focus more on promotional activities and develop proper marketing strategy to increase room booking figures.

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