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Casinos in Nepal have reopened after months of Covid-led shutdown as authorities relax health restrictions and roll back taxes in a desperate gamble to revive international tourism that supports the national economy.
Nepal imposed a national lockdown on March 24, 2020, canceled it four months later, but some health restrictions returned to major cities across the country in April this year until they were completely lifted at the end of last month.
Relaxed rules
It removed a seven-day quarantine rule for all foreigners, resumed issuing visas on arrival to fully vaccinated international travelers, and dropped the remaining restrictions it had placed on the tourism industry since March of l ‘last year.
“Casinos are (now) allowed to resume operations (…) following health security protocols,” Tourism Ministry spokesman Taranath Adhikari said in the capital Kathmandu, the hub of tourism. Nepalese gaming industry.
Nepal Hotel, Casino and Restaurant Workers’ Union president Surya Bahadur Kunwar said a dozen casinos have reopened and more are expected to resume “in the coming days and weeks.”
The finance ministry waived an annual fee for casinos for the Nepalese fiscal year ended June 30 to help them get back on their feet after the crippling shutdown.
The industry, which owes the government more than a million euros, has put most of its 15,000 workers including croupiers, slot attendants and pit clerks during the lockdown on leave, but vows to reinstate them once the cash registers start ringing.
“The casinos did not lay off their employees, but they did not pay them any wages. We hope that the industry will recover and that workers will find their jobs, ”the Kathmandu Post daily said, citing an anonymous official.
Upscale hotels have paid basic wages to workers sent home during the pandemic in Nepal, which has so far administered 14 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine, has reported 800,000 Covid-19 infections and 11 180 deaths.
Kishore Joshi of the Nepalese Hotel Association hoped that reopening casinos would also increase hotel occupancy rates.
Steamy casinos
Nepal’s boisterous casinos with fancy names and loud music emulated their American cousins to attract hikers, climbers and vacationers looking for nightlife in the deeply impoverished Himalayan nation sandwiched between l ‘India and China.
Casino Royale boasted of being the first gaming center in Nepal which opened in 2015 in the luxury Yak & Yeti hotel in Kathmandu with 20 tables offering roulette, blackjack, pontoon and baccarat in addition to 34 machines. to slot.
The Mahjong Casino at the Kathmandu-based Soaltee Crown Plaza Hotel was considered the second largest open to amateur and serious gamers with deep pockets.
“October being one of our good seasons, we can expect this number to rise again, but to revive the gaming industry we need big players and not bagpackers,” added Randhir Dahal, a Nepalese tour operator based in India.
Others added that the recovery depended on excitement researchers from India who came in droves before the pandemic.
“We are heavily dependent on Indian customers and now the pandemic has subsided there as well, so we expect the woman’s luck to turn the wheels on for us again. Said an executive from the Nepal Casino Operators Association.
Crushed tourism
Foreign arrivals doubled in one month to nearly 10,000 in September after authorities resumed issuing visas on arrival to air travelers, according to the Nepal Tourism Board.
Nepal, dependent on tourism, suffered a severe blow during the pandemic, registering just 548 steps in September 2000, compared to 92,604 visitors during the same period the year before.
Overall, the number of tourists to the former Himalayan Kingdom rose to 230,000 in 2020, up from 1,197,191 the previous year.
The numbers have improved a bit this year with 76,900 arrivals between January and September in Nepal, where dozens of host families, guest houses and budget hotels have closed their shutters.
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