KATHMANDU, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The Nepali government planned to lift the ongoing suspension on domestic and international flights starting from August as the Himalayan country has seen a drop in new COVID-19 cases, said a senior official of Nepal's Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.
"The ministry on Thursday decided to recommend COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre for lifting suspension of domestic flights from August 5 and international flights from August 17," Kedar Bahadur Adhikari, secretary of the ministry told Xinhua on Friday, noting that it is the minister-level decision.
The COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre headed by Nepali Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ishwar Pokharel was formed to coordinate efforts against the pandemic. Based on the recommendation of this center, the cabinet will decide whether to lift the suspension of flights.
Both domestic and international flights have remained suspended in Nepal since March 22, except chartered flights for humanitarian purpose or delivery of medical goods.
Although the Nepali government decided on July 10 to relax the lockdown, allowing the most of the economic activities to run, sectors including flight service, schools and theaters have remained suspended.
"One of the reasons behind our recommendation to lift the suspension is that COVID-19 cases in Nepal have been decreasing in recent days substantially," Adhikari said.
Nepal on Thursday reported 167 new COVID-19 cases in a day, a sharp drop from the record high 740 cases on July 3 as the total cases stood at 17,344. "We believe that flights can be operated by adopting strict health protocols."
Nepali tourism entrepreneurs have also demanded to reopen the tourism sector by lifting flight cancellation as the sector faces huge losses due to the pandemic.
Due to COVID-19, Nepal's tourism sector is estimated to lose around 332 million U.S. dollars by July 21, with an extended lockdown imposed since March 24, according to the ministry.
In early July, a delegation of Nepali tourism entrepreneurs submitted a memorandum to Tourism Minister Yogesh Bhattarai, asking the government to allow the airlines to operate the scheduled domestic and international flights on condition that certain health protocols are complied, according to a press statement of the ministry.
"We are receiving report that as many as 25-30 percent of foreigners who wanted to come to Nepal for trekking and expedition have not cancelled their air tickets yet," said Adhikari.
Binayak Shah, the first vice-president of the Hotel Association of Nepal, a grouping of hotels in Nepal, told Xinhua in early July that they were getting few inquiries for hotel booking for the autumn season from the tourists who planned to come to Nepal for trekking and mountaineering.
Meanwhile, Nepal's cabinet on July 13 decided to exempt parking fees for domestic and international airlines by 75 percent effective from March 14 until one month after the lockdown is fully relaxed, according to Nepal's Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada.
He said in a press meeting on Thursday that the cabinet also decided to waive rents to domestic and international airlines who have taken certain space at Nepali airports in rent by 75 percent.
The Nepali government also decided not to charge on the airlines for delay on the top of regular payment they should make for the use of airports and waive flight permission renewal fee by 50 percent. Enditem
