Small and large hotels, resorts, restaurants, and eateries operating throughout Nepal will have to fill out a detailed form and provide information via QR code within 7 days.
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The Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has issued a 7-day notice for the listing of hotels and restaurants across the country. The Department of Tourism has issued an 'urgent notice' at a time when there is a debate about the necessary infrastructure and management of catering for religious tourists entering the country in large numbers via road. The department's information officer Himal Gautam informed that hotels, resorts and restaurants across the country have been called upon to list themselves online. According to the notice, small and large hotels, resorts, restaurants and eateries operating across Nepal will have to provide information by filling out a detailed form through QR code within 7 days. The department has asked for details from hotels, resorts, restaurants, kitchens and eateries across Nepal, saying that businesses should disclose the type of food (vegetarian, non-vegetarian or halal) that they can provide, especially considering the eating style of Indian pilgrims (pure vegetarian).
The department has asked for the type of business, name, address, contact number, opening and closing times, availability of alcohol, website and other necessary details. The department says that the collected information will be compiled into a tourist-friendly information system and made public.
In the last few weeks, videos and photos of Indian tourists cooking their own food on the roadside have been going viral on social media. After about 30,000 Indian pilgrims reached Muktinath and more than 10,000 arrived at Swargadwari in a single day, questions are being raised about the existing infrastructure and capacity of Nepal's restaurants.
The Ministry of Tourism has taken this step saying that religious tourists are forced to cook their own food due to the limited number of vegetarian restaurants in Nepal and the lack of a systematic listing of hotels.
A few days ago, the Ministry of Tourism had issued a code of conduct for tourists arriving by road on 'what to do and what not to do'. The ministry has asked the department to issue this information material in Nepali, Hindi and English and inform tourists entering through the border checkpoints through the police.
Tourism Minister Khadak Raj Poudel, while talking about this a few days ago, had said that the government is preparing to list vegetarian hotels from Bhairahawa to Pokhara and Muktinath from the next fiscal year and provide the details to tourists at the border checkpoints.
