Tourism entrepreneurs for resuming flights

An alliance of 35 tourism entrepreneurs on Thursday sought the government permission to resume the operation of domestic flights from August 1.

The alliance of tourism operators in a press meet held in Kathmandu today demanded the government to open the border points along with opening of international flights from August 15 as well.

The alliance said that since both domestic and international flights are totally halted, the whole tourism industry has come to a grinding halt and in such circumstances, Nepal has to bear high cost of airfare. Consequently, the tourism industry is on the verge of extinction.

All operation of flights will be executed by following appropriate safety measures against Covid-19 said the press statement distributed during the press meet.

The Alliance of tourism operators comprised of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATA), Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN), Airlines Operators’ Association of Nepal (AOAN) and Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA).

The alliance said due to the Covid-19 pandemic, thousands of tour operators have lost their jobs and incurred a loss of more than billions.

Although, the government eased the lockdown from June 10, and allowed shops to open yet the hotels, resorts, home stays , flights are completely suspended.

The Airlines Operators’ Association of Nepal (AOAN) president Capt. Rameshwor Thapa expressed that in the foreign countries the flights were being operated with safety measures, so Nepal should also resume flights by complying with safety protocol measures.

Similarly, NATA chairman Achhut Guragai said that flights must be resumed with safety measures for the survival of the tourism industry.

 The NMA General Secretary Kul Bahadur Gurung and TAAN Chairman Khum Subedi also opined that flights should be resumed to allow tourism industry to revive gradually.