KATHMANDU, MAY 19
As the COVID-19 pandemic has paralysed Hotel and Hospitality sector throughout the country, staffers in excess of 25,000 from the hospitality industry have lost their jobs in Province 2.
There are almost 5,000 hotels across the eight districts in the province. However, the closures in line with the COVID-19 lockdown protocols have sent the once thriving industry into a 'comatose' state.
According to Mohan Sharma, General Secretary of Federation of Tourism Entrepreneurs of the province, the industry is unable to pay wages to its staffers.
Most of the employees have been laid off by their respective employers thereby making way for a situation of financial crisis.
According to a business owner, as there is still a looming uncertainty as to when things will bounce back to normal, they have not been able to cover for basic expenses including revenues, rents, electricity and water bills, bank interests, let alone paying staffers.
He further added that if the government was to use the hotel infrastructures as quarantine facilities, which can be done with relatively less expenditure compared to establishing newer such facilities, that would help hotels to sustain while reducing cost of operations for the state.
