E-Kantipur

KATHMANDU, JUN 04 -

Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) has been good to the hotel industry bringing greater arrivals, higher occupancy and bigger profits. This is what the third quarterly report of three hotel companies listed on the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) has shown.

The net profits of three major hotel companies—Soaltee Hotel Limited, Oriental Hotel Limited and Taragaon Regency Hotels Limited—have increased 27.11 percent, 38.71 percent and 57.13 percent respectively. Soaltee Hotel has posted a net profit of Rs 114.19 million while Oriental Hotel has registered a net profit of Rs 55.03 million in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Likewise, Taragaon Regency has recorded a net profit of Rs 125.13 million during this period.

With tourist arrivals increasing 22.9 percent in the first five months of NTY, a significant surge in the profits of the country’s leading hotels is understandable. Non-occurrence of strikes and bandas in the first nine months, which had badly hurt the hospitality sector in the past, along with more meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) tourism has helped to boost the revenue of these hotels.

During this period, two major multinational companies, Coca-Cola Sabco and Philips, held their meetings in Nepal. Coca-Cola Sabco organised its annual general management meet at the Soaltee Crowne Plaza in the second week of April that was attended by 120 delegates from the Sabco family. Two weeks later, consumer electronics giant Philips organised the Philips Consumer Lifestyle Distributors Seminar 2011 at the Hotel Hyatt Regency. Philips distributors from the Asia-Pacific region attended this event.

An increment in tourist arrivals has boosted the room occupancy of the hotels. According to Taragaon’s report submitted to Nepse, its room occupancy in the first nine months climbed to 60 percent from 53 percent in the same period in the last fiscal. The hotel aims to increase its occupancy rate to 65 percent and operating profit to Rs 360 million by the end of the current fiscal year. For this, the hotel plans to offer a “special rate” to attract customers during the off-season (June-September). Oriental Hotel said its occupancy had increased to 79.47 percent in Q3 compared to 74.20 percent in the same period last year. Similarly, the hotel’s average room tariff has also increased to Rs 5,276 this year from Rs 4,819 in Q3 last year.

Despite the satisfactory results, hotels are wary of the country’s political situation. All of them have pointed to changes in the exchange rate, power crisis and the country’s political situation as challenges for the hotel sector in their quarterly reports.

Posted on: 2011-06-04 09:03

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