Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel urges hoteliers to benefit from subsidy

DPM and Minister for Finance Bishnu Prasad Poudel has urged the business community in the hotel and tourism sector to benefit from the subsidy given by the government.

Receiving the recommendations submitted by the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) on Tuesday, Poudel urged the hoteliers and business people to receive the benefits announced by the government for the upcoming fiscal year adding that the government has addressed most of their demands related to the tourism sector. 

Stating that the hotel and tourism sector has been given equal status to that of the production sector, Poudel argued that it was unlikely to bring a better budget than this due to COVID-19.

In the budget for the fiscal year 2021/22, the government has announced to exempt electricity demand tariff to the hotels for the time of prohibitory order and the tourism industries including hotels and trekking agencies’ registration would be automatically renewed without any fees for the fiscal year 2021/22.

President of HAN Srijana Rana stated that it was a big step to include hotels in the service sector and thanked the minister for incorporating the recommendations given by the HAN in the time of budget making. 

Likewise, the HAN has given the recommendation to increase the existing amount of refinancing and extend the time period for a year while calling the central bank to monitor whether or not the decision of refinancing was implemented through the banks and financial institutions.