“The prices of vegetables, fruits, meat and other essential commodities have doubled over the past few months, sharply adding cost to business and thereby driving the tourists away,” said Govinda Pahari, president, Regional Hotel Association Nepal, Pokhara.
Entrepreneurs lamented that the number of tourists in the city presently is low at this time of the year and they could not transfer the cost to customers because it could drive away even the existing tourists.
“This unnatural rise in prices has seriously hurt hotel and restaurants business in this lake city,” said Pahari, adding that his association has submitted a memorandum to the local administration, demanding its urgent action.
The association has also knocked the doors of Consumers´ Forum and Office of Standard and Metrology to gear up inspection and intervene into the market to break cartel and collective price fixing -- the factors that have mainly swelled the prices.
The association knocked the doors of government agencies, after a recent meeting of tourism entrepreneurs decided to seek concrete action from the government to check price rises. The meeting had concluded that strong inflation controlling measures have become vital for the tourism industry to survive.
“If the local administration and market inspectors continued to show apathy, hundreds of hotels of this touristic city will close down, leaving thousands of employees jobless,” the association has said.
According to the association, there are 421 hotels and 70 restaurants catering services to the tourists. The investment in them is estimated to stand at Rs 36 billion and they employ about 800 workers.
Prices of essential commodities have touched new highs in Pokhara over the last few weeks. Most of the vegetables are priced at about Rs 100 per kilogram and fruits too have become unaffordable for general consumers.
“The prices in Pokhara have risen like nowhere in the country,” said Pahari, attributing it to cartel and black marketing.
According to retailers, the price of chicken in Pokhara stands at Rs 350 per kg, whereas it is Rs 160 in Chitwan. Vegetable items, which are priced in the range of Rs 30 to Rs 40 per kg in source districts like Butwal, Chitwan and Dhading are priced in the range of Rs 80 to Rs100 per kg in local markets.
“There is a huge gap between retail and wholesale prices. This situation must end,” said Pahari.
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