Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) has urged the government to speed up the construction of the Kathmandu-Tarai fast track and the much-touted second international airport (SIA) in Bara, Nijgadh to overcome Nepal’s infrastructure bottlenecks.  

Addressing HAN’s 44th annual general meeting on Thursday, the association’s President BK Shrestha said that Nepal was in dire need of infrastructure development, so the government should expedite the development of the two mega projects at the earliest. The theme of this year’s conference is “Revival of Tourism”.

Shrestha also underscored the need to expedite the upgradation of the country’s sole international airport, enable the Nepal Tourism Board to conduct effective promotional activities and enhance the capacity of Nepal Airlines.  

On the occasion, Tourism Minister Kripasur Sherpa praised the role of the hotel industry in the country’s tourism development, and said that the government was ready to assist the private sector to revive tourism in the post-earthquake situation.

HAN presented a white paper entitled “Tourism Revival in Nepal” to Minister Sherpa recommending measures that the government could take to revive Nepal’s tourism and rebuild tourist confidence.  

Shankar Sharma, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, said that Nepal needed to push for major infrastructure development and conduct an aggressive promotional campaign to achieve a rebound in tourism.

During the programme, HAN also announced the establishment of two scholarships for hotel management students named after two late past presidents Sahadev SJB Rana and Anup SJB Rana.