July 27: Hotel entrepreneurs have started preparations to resume their business, which has been halted due to coronavirus and the subsequent lockdown imposed to control the spread of the disease.

They are gearing up to reopen hotels and restaurants after the government decided to allow them to resume their services from July 30.

The hotel industry has been completely shut since the last four months after the government imposed the lockdown on March 24. Hotel entrepreneurs say it is not possible to resume full-fledged service right now so they will be partially operating with just 10 percent of their capacity for the time being.

Shangri-La Hotel, a five-star hotel in the capital, is preparing to resume its service from the upcoming full moon day (Janai Purnima festival) on August 3. Meanwhile, another five-star hotel, Radisson, is doing its homework to resume service after mid-August.

Similarly, other restaurants and bars have also started training their staffers and adopting safety measures as per the health standard set by the government to resume their service.

Senior Vice President of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) Binayak Shah says that small and medium-sized hotels are actively preparing to resume their service than the big hotels.

“At this point, we are resuming service not to  make profit but to give the message that we are trying to create a conducive environment for business. We just want to bring the business back in tune,” said Shah.

Shah, who is also the executive director of Airport Hotel, informed that they will be operating at 10 percent of their capacity for the time being.

Executive Director of Shangri-La Hotel Praveen Bahadur Pandey said that the hotel will resume service from the upcoming full moon day just for “maintenance”.

“We are still not allowed to organize mass meetings and parties. But the hotel will remain open with limited service for some personal guests who regularly visit our coffee shops and restaurant,” said Pandey.

He added that they are expecting 2 to 10 percent of business.

“We will mobilize only 10 percent of staffers,” he added.

Hotel entrepreneurs say that although the government has given approval to resume their business, foreign tourists visiting Nepal still need to stay in quarantine for 14 days.

Pandey argues that foreign tourists will not visit Nepal if they have to stay in quarantine for 14 days.