Pokhara hotels rue lack of workers as tourism season approaches

By Santosh Subedi,Kaski, Aug. 30: Lately, as the young generation has started migrating abroad, there has been a shortage of workers in hotels in Pokhara.

Even though the number of tourist arrivals has decreased, hoteliers said that it is becoming difficult to find workers.

Ishwori Pandey, a hotelier, said that after the hotel was facing a shortage of manpower, they hired people who had no experience and taught them how to work.

"Experienced workers are difficult to come by. Therefore, there is no alternative to training the new entrants in the hotel sector. It is a service sector. There is a problem if quality cannot be maintained. If we cannot offer good hospitality, the guest who came once may not come again. That's why we need experienced manpower," he said.

Laxman Subedi, president of Hotel Association Nepal, Pokhara, said that the shortage of manpower would increase if all the workers displaced by the coronavirus infection did not return to the tourism sector.

He said that the working manpower is migrating abroad and the lack of new manpower is increasing owing to low attraction in the tourism sector.

Currently, the poor occupancy of hotels in Pokhara is due to the difficult land route of Pokhara-Mugling.

Due to the messy traffic on the highway, the arrival of guests is less at this time, businessmen said.

"Now there are no guests because the road is damaged. If the next season goes well, manpower will be a problem. The next season will start next month. After Dashain, domestic tourists are also on the scene. It is estimated that the human resources will not be enough at that time,'' Subedi said.

Around 425 hotels in Pokhara are registered with the Association.

There are 1,200 hotels in and around Pokhara with 35,000 beds.

President Subedi said that even though Pokhara has the capacity to handle 40,000 tourists, there are indications that there will be problems with workers during the season.

According to him, around 5,000 people are currently working in hotels in Pokhara and its surroundings. Around 15,000 workers are needed in all hotels in Pokhara, he said.

He said that 10,000 more people could be employed, but they could not find prospective workers.

"There should be at least 50 per cent occupancy to cover the hotel expenses. Occupancy of up to 30 per cent can be handled by the current manpower. It didn't even happen without having a guest because there are no workers. If the season is good, the occupancy of hotels in Pokhara area can cross 80 per cent," he said.

Subedi stated that there is no shortage of manpower as there is currently only 10 per cent occupancy in the hotel sector of Pokhara, but there will be a shortage during the peak season.

He said that the tourism season will start in September.

He said that there is a shortage of staff from housekeeping to manager level.

"The educational sector of Pokhara, the production of manpower from various institutions providing training is good. However, after completing one level education here, the youth tend to go abroad. There is no way to stop them in Nepal," he said.