Nepal Closures Rankle Hoteliers

Sat, Nov 1, 2014

Nepal’s leading hotel operators want the government to move fast to resolve tax disputes with the Himalayan state’s casinos. The industry was shut down earlier this year over unpaid royalties, and the hotels say it’s killing tourism.

The Hotel Association of Nepal has asked the government to allow the Himalayan state’s casinos to reopen.

The government-ordered shutdown, imposed earlier this year as a result of a long-running tax disputes, is hurting tourism, according to a petition the association has sent to Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Deepak Chandra Amatya.

Earlier this year, the government closed 10 casinos in tourist hotels nationwide for failing to meet new regulations regarding royalty payments. Casino Royale in the capital of Kathmandu has since been cleared to resume operations by the country’s Supreme Court. The others remain closed pending settlements.

The hoteliers say the closures have led tourist numbers to drop by nearly 200,000 over the last six months.

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