KATHMANDU, MAR 17 - Amid government delay in introducing regulations and a working plan related to urban home stay, illegal operations are mushrooming in the capital city and its periphery.

A numbers of advertisements on urban home stay targeting foreign visitors are rampant on websites these days. 

These numbers have increased after the private sector floated a proposal showing willingness to host tourists in private houses in the upcoming Nepal Tourism Year 2011 (NTY-2011).

The private sector is of the view that urban home stay will provide service to the surplus tourists who may not get accommodations due to insufficient hotel rooms during NTY 2011.

The government has announced that NTY -2011 plans to attract one million foreign tourists. With 669 hotels including all categories and a combined capacity of 26,063 beds, it would mean a shortfall of 822 beds daily.

"We have leased a house with seven rooms to host tourists as paying guests," said Santosh Gurung, proprietor of Family Home Stay, Ranibari. Gurung is among those who are unaware that such an arrangement is illegal in the urban areas.

He said the booking was made through the internet and a charge for a couple was Rs. 25,000 per month. Similarly, for food there would be provision for a common kitchen and tourists living in the rooms should arrange to cook jointly, he said. Home stay in various developing countries is a part of their tourism industry. Hosting a home stay participant also allows the local family to earn some additional, needed income.

Having low profitability, as it is, home stay cannot be regarded as strictly commercial activity. In Nepal Tourism Policy 2008/09 has allowed home stay in rural areas only.  

As per the prevailing laws, hotels have to be registered with the Office of the Company Registrar and the Ministry of Industry, and those serving foreign visitors have to acquire a separate license from the Tourism Ministry.

However, after the private sector interest to arrange for home stay was legalised with a view to NTY-2011, the government must introduce a working plan and guidelines on it.

"We are already late in introducing the regulations in this regard," admitted Laxman Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA).

He said that new urban home-stay work plan would be completed within four weeks. "We have given the work plan preparation responsibility to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and the board has started working on the issue by selecting consultants," Bhattarai said.

After completion of the work plan, the subsisting home stay in urban areas will be brought into a set criterion. Similarly, the issue on levying taxes or not will also be cleared in the working plan, Bhattarai said. 

"The urban home stay is focused on the upcoming NTY-2011 campaign, which is a good move," said Prasiddha Raj Pandey, president of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN).

He said that home stay incorporates below five rooms to host tourists that would not hamper the star or non-star hotels while providing services during the campaign. "But, if not regulated properly by bringing legal mechanism it could harm the non-star hotels with 20-30 rooms," Pandey said.

Posted on: 2010-03-17 12:40

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