Hotel strike in Chitwan

[saipal peak]

Chitwan hotels swamped by cancellations during peak season



POST REPORT
SAURAHA (CHITWAN), March 4 - Hotels have been inundated with booking cancellations during the peak tourist season because of a walkout called by a trade union affiliated to the CPN-UML.
The General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions has been on strike from last week demanding that hotels and resorts provide 10 percent of the receipts to their employees. Over six dozen hotels and resorts have shut down, said Shankar Sainju, vice president of the Regional Hotel Association, Chitwan. He added that cancellations had come in mainly from America, Europe and India.
The association estimates that they are incurring a loss of Rs 40 million daily in terms of missed revenue. “Our present losses will affect earnings for the next six months,” he said.
Prakash Neupane of the Rhino Wildlife Resort said that this was the first time after the end of the conflict that he was seeing all the rooms in the hotel standing empty. Temple Tiger Resort has, in a statement, asked 26 different sectors to create a conducive environment to let the hotels resume operation. They include the Ministry of Tourism, Nepal Tourism Board, Hotel Association Nepal and the Chitwan District Administration Office. Hoteliers say they are unable to meet the demand of the agitating trade union to provide 10 percent of the price of the tour package. They added that the latest demand had come abruptly and that it contravened previous pacts. Last year, five trade unions and the Regional Hotel Association signed an agreement to grant 10 percent of the price of food and room to the employees.
A tour package includes accommodation, all meals, jungle safari, elephant ride, canoe ride, bird watching tour and nature walk. “We have been abiding by last year's agreement. We are not in a position to fulfill this new demand,” said Sainju.



LG Von
Saipal
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www.reisennepal.com (http://www.reisennepal.com)

[Soshin]

Saipal Namaste,

I think I can speak for more of us than just me, that your honest and thoroughgoing informations regarding the situation in your country is most appreciated. Keep on the good work,

Liebe Grüße,
Soshin

[saipal peak]

Hallo Soshin
Namaskar.
Many thanks for your good comments.Yes, I will try to post the real situation of nepal in this forum which may help lots to the peoples who are interested of Nepal.
Thanks again for your posting.
Namaste


LG
Saipal

[saipal peak]

Chitwan hotel workers call off protests




KATHMANDU, March 13 - Agitating resort workers in Chitwan have withdrawn all protest programs from Thursday following a dialogue between the trade union leaders and the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) held under the aegis of the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM).
Issuing a press release, HAN said that the talks between the leaders of the Nepal Free Hotel Workers Union and HAN office bearers were held in the presence of MoLTM officials led by a joint secretary. The release further says that the two sides have agreed to respect and follow the agreement reached between HAN and five different trade unions on December 30, 2006 on levying a 10 percent service charge on food, beverage and accommodation. They also formed a committee comprising representatives from the trade union, HAN and MoLTM to enforce the agreement effectively.
Workers affiliated with the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GFONT) had disrupted all operations and activities from February 24 shutting down major tourist hotels in Chitwan, the third largest tourist destination in the country. They were demanding that the service charge be also levied on elephant ride, canoe ride, jungle walk and other activities offered by the hotels.
Hotel owners had refused to fulfill their demand citing that the amounts collected from such activities went directly to the Chitwan National Park. The row between workers and hoteliers resulting in a three-week-long strike had badly hampered tourism in the popular jungle safari destination. The hoteliers have claimed that they suffered losses amounting to Rs 40 million daily due to the disruption.


Liebe Grusse
Saipal
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http://www.reisennepal.com