The business of big and luxury hotels in Banke district has gradually started picking up momentum now after witnessing a drastic fall almost to nil following the lockdown and restrictions imposed in the wake of COVID-19 risk in the country. Five-star as well as other luxury hotels have sprung up here in Banke district, largely targeting the tourists travelling to Kailash Mansarovar, the Bardiya National Park, Sworgadwari Ashram, the famous pilgrimage site in Pyuthan, the Rara Lake in Mugu, the Shey-Phoksundo Lake in Dolpa. Nepalgunj is the major air and hub for travelling to these destinations. Hotel entrepreneur Bhim Prasad Kandel said there are over a dozen luxury hotels including the five-star, four-star and three-star ones operating here since a decade.
The Hotel Soaltee, Sneha, Siddhartha, Signet Inn, Krishna, City Palace and Kitchen Hut are to name a few luxury hotels. It is found that these luxury hotels have made especially the Indian tourists as their clientele base. “Not only big hotels but the smaller ones as well as the tourism business too have started to see an increase in business in recent days after being hit hard by the pandemic,” Kandel, the hotelier, said. Besides being the centre for air and surface travel to some of the best tourism destinations in the hill and m