KATHMANDU: Nepal's hotel industry has the capacity to serve four million tourists annually but is currently receiving only 1.2 million — a gap that Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) says costs the country jobs, investment and the chance to keep Nepali youth from seeking work abroad.

HAN officials made the case directly to the government on Tuesday at a special meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, attended by Prime Minister Balendra Shah and  Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Khadak Raj Paudel.

The association presented a range of policy demands, highlighting significant untapped potential in wellness tourism, destination weddings and cross-border tourism. 

Among the key asks, HAN called for subsidised electricity tariffs for the hotel industry on par with productive industries, an increase in the threshold for short environmental impact assessments from 25 to 50 beds, and the full operationalisation of Pokhara and Bhairahawa international airports alongside improvements to Nepal Airlines services.

Further demands included an amendment to the five percent trademark royalty cap under the Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act 2075 to allow rates to be set through mutual agreement, simplification of procedures for bringing jewellery into Nepal for destination weddings, and the development of full story-telling packages and expert arrangements for wellness tourism promotion. HAN also urged the government to bring small and medium hotels into the formal registration and tax framework.

Prime Minister Shah assured the association that work on tourism promotion was already moving at pace and that concerns within the hospitality sector would soon be addressed. He encouraged the private sector to move forward as a strong partner of the state and called for greater collaboration under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.