KATHMANDU, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Nepali government on Monday relaxed provision for opening star hotels in areas outside capital Kathmandu by reducing the number of rooms required to be star hotels.
By amending the Regulation on Hotels, Lodge, Restaurant and Bar recently, Nepal's Department of Tourism downsized the number of rooms required to be called from one to five star hotels.
As per the new provision, a five-star hotel outside Kathmandu Valley should have at least 80 rooms, down from earlier provision of 100 rooms.
Likewise, four-star hotels should have 60 down from 80 while three-star hotels should have 45 rooms down from 60. The two and one star hotels should have 30 and 15 rooms, from the earlier provision of 40 and 20 rooms respectively.
Also, four- and five-star hotels outside Kathmandu are not required to arrange parking area if the location is remote and vehicle cannot travel. Swimming pool is also not required in the mountainous regions for the four- and five-star hotels.
Rajesh Lamsal, an officer at the hotel division of the Tourism Department told Xinhua that the new provision was made to ease and encourage investors to open star hotels outside Kathmandu Valley.
"Earlier, the standard was the same for the hotels all over the country," he said.
According to the Tourism Department, no provision has been changed regarding standards for the hotels inside Kathmandu Valley.
There are currently 11 five-star hotels in Nepal and five four-star hotels in 2017, according to the Tourism Department.
Lately, Nepal has been seeing an influx of international hotel chains including Sheraton, Marriot, India's Hotel Leela Palaces and OYO Rooms and Thailand's Dusit International.
