Government will help revive Tourism: Finance Minister Poudel

KATHMANDU: Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel has said that the government will provide necessary assistance to revive the tourism sector which has been severely affected due to COVID-19.

Speaking at a discussion program organized at the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday with the representatives of tourism and hotel business, Finance Minister Poudel said that the government has brought relief, concession and incentive programs and stressed on effective implementation.

During the discussion, the representatives of tourism and hotel business urged the Finance Minister to make an arrangement not to make the refinancing limit mandatory if the per capita loan limit is 200 million. He also said that there were problems in refinancing and business continuity credit flow. 

Likewise, Finance Minister Poudel also said that he would take initiative to solve the problems seen in the implementation process of the programs mentioned in the budget, monetary policy and other issues. Believing that the situation will be eased after the arrival of COVID-19 vaccine, Finance Minister Poudel said, “We are sensitive to the difficulties in the tourism and hotel sector. You go ahead, the government is with you.”

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Bhanubhakta Dhakal said that the Ministry has held discussions with the concerned sector to solve the problems in tourism. Finance Secretary Shishir Kumar Dhungana clarified that there was no problem in the policies and that additional initiatives would be taken for their implementation.

The tourism professionals and hoteliers demanded that the period of repayment amount should be made three years maximum from the existing two, in the business continuity loan flow procedure and the repayment period should be made five years maximum from four.

During the discussion, they requested to make arrangements for exemption of electricity demand fee and to make arrangements for the flow of loans up to 100 percent of the value of the collateral already available for any existing loan in the business.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Nepal Tourism Board, Trekking Agency Association of Nepal, Hotel Association of Nepal, Restaurant Association and others.