reprinted from the London Daily Telegraph
Nepal
hit by strike threat
By Deborah Dunn Hotel
workers in Nepal have threatened to strike next week, disrupting tourism
throughout the country. Negotiations
involving the Nepalese government, the Hotel Association of Nepal and the
Nepal Hotel Workers' Union are continuing, but if no settlement is
reached, staff will stop working on Monday and hotels might be forced to
close. Workers
are demanding that the hotels charge guests a mandatory service fee, which
will be paid directly to employees, in addition to the 10 per cent VAT and
two per cent tourist promotion tax already added to hotel bills. At
present, employees receive a salary, but tipping is not obligatory. The
Kathmandu Chamber of Commerce, which says it fears violent action if
negotiations dissolve, is advising all tourism-related businesses,
including trekking services, to shut down. Two
British tour operators said that they were planning to continue holidays
as normal. Explore
Worldwide, which is scheduled to take about 150 tourists to Nepal this
month, said it would not cancel trips unless the Foreign Office deemed
Nepal "inoperable". "We feel confident that the strike
won't occur, but if it does, we will offer our clients a full
refund," said a spokeswoman. Exodus
Travel, which plans to take about 130 people, also intended to go ahead.
"The hotel workers have been this close to striking before, but the
issues have always been resolved," said Mark Hanson, the company's
spokesman. "Tourism
is just too critical to the whole economy and the presence of many
foreign-owned hotels could complicate things." However,
George Morgan-Grenville of Abercrombie & Kent disagreed: "There
have been rumblings before, but this is as close as they've ever got to
having a serious strike." He said the union's demands were
"unrealistic" and had caused "worry and unease"
throughout Kathmandu's tourist industry. "It's everybody's hope that
there will be a compromise, but even if there is, there will be no
winners." Luckily,
he said, December is not the peak tourist season and A & K has no tour
groups scheduled to visit the country until later this month. Because it
is unclear at this point whether all hotels will be closed or if the
smaller, non-union hotels will remain open, Mr. Morgan-Grenville said it
is difficult for his company to design a contingency plan. |