KATHMANDU, Feb 5: Tourism entrepreneurs are scrambling to explore new markets after arrivals from China – second largest source market for Nepal – fell drastically due to coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking at a press meet in Kathmandu on Tuesday, Shreejana Rana, president of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), said tourism stakeholders are preparing to intensify promotional activities in alternative markets to make up for the loss in tourist numbers due to drop in Chinese arrivals.

"We are also in talks with airline companies and other tourism stakeholders for preparing of cheaper yet attractive tour packages to bring more visitors," she added.

After the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese government put ban on group travelers. The number of Chinese tourists has dropped sharply after the ban came into effect. Nepal has targeted to welcome 500,000 tourists from China in 2020 which is being celebrated as Visit Nepal Year (VNY).

"Our focus will be on India, Bangladesh, Middle East, South East Asia, and other countries,” Rana added.

Similarly, Suraj Vaidya, national coordinator of VNY 2020, said that though arrivals from China have started to fall, Nepal is unaffected by the virus and is still safe to travel to. 

Hoteliers say though Nepal is not affected by the virus, the fear has resulted into cancellation of bookings.

Meanwhile, HAN has issued a circular to its member hotels, asking them to adopt safety measures to protect their premises from coronavirus outbreak. "If any staff or guests have symptoms of infection, rush them to the nearest hospitals immediately," the circular states.

Vaidya further said that the government, VNY2020 Secretariat, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and tourism stakeholders were working to minimize negative impact of the coronavirus outbreak to the tourism industry.

"As travel agencies are unable to operate tour packages for Chinese visitors, the arrivals are said to have go down significantly in the first month of 2020. We are hopeful that the number will increase as the year progresses,” Rana added.

Also speaking at the press meet, Binayak Shah, first vice president of HAN, said Nepal is safe to travel and that the hospitality sector was prepared to take needful action if infection is tracked in any individual.

 
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