Kathmandu, ANN
Aviation industry in Nepal is going to face a huge loss since the start of this New Year 2020 as the Coronavirus enters epidemically globally. Nepal also as listed by World Health Organization (WHO) also is one of the most risky place for the new deadly virus to spread. This has made a direct impact on the number of tourists entering Nepal for tourism as well as business purposes. The airlines booking have sliced drastically and the domestic tourism has also been affected the same way.
The airliners in Nepal illustrated that they have reached in a condition to ground some number of their fleet because of the reduced number of booking. The Airliners Association of Nepal (AAON) has predicted that the loss of the industry could hit NRs. 4 Billion Rupees with the statistics of 40% slash in the market faced in first 2 months of this year.
The peak tourism and mountaineering season is soon to start in Nepal. However, the foreigners are cancelling their bookings and directly impacting the aviation industry of Nepal this year. The effect in the industry could last as long as six months. The new virus outbreak has affected other international airlines globally too.
As a step towards the prevention of Corona COVID-19 Virus prevention, the government of Nepal has decided to restrict the entry of citizens from China, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Iran to enter Nepal in Visa-on-arrival entry. The citizens from the above-mentioned countries shall need to obtain a visa prior to their travel from the embassies of Nepal in the respective countries from now on. The suspension on the visa process will last from March 7 to March 31.
