Star hotels are opening in the Far West Province with billions of rupees in investment, new hope for tourism business

Khem Raj Upadhyay, Dhangadhi 22 Bhadra . There was a time when many tourists coming to the Far West would reach Nepalgunj or other cities to spend the night. Due to the lack of quality accommodation, high-class tourists coming to the province could not stay for long.
Despite the open border with India, immense tourism potential such as Khaptad, Shuklaphanta, Badimalika, Dodhara-Chandani and Chisapani, the province was not able to reap the expected benefits due to the lack of international-level accommodation infrastructure. However, the recent investment of billions of rupees in the hotel sector in the Far West has indicated that this situation will change.
Hotels with investments of crores to billions of rupees are being built in various places in the Far West, including Dhangadhi. The latest example of this is the five-star hotel of the Chaulani Club. This hotel under construction has an agreement between the chain Holiday Inn and Chaulani Limited under the management of the world-famous hotel chain IHG Group.
The hotel, which is being built with an investment of about Rs 2.2 billion, is targeted to be operational from the new year of 2084. With this, the Far West will get a five-star hotel with an international brand for the first time.
The hotel will have 115 modern guest rooms, including 5 premium suites, as per international standards. It will include a state-of-the-art casino, a grand banquet hall that can accommodate up to 700 people, a rooftop swimming pool, a multi-cuisine restaurant, a fully equipped modern fitness center, various meeting and conference rooms, and special private dining facilities.
The hotel's managing director, Mansingh Saud, said that this project will launch an international-level hospitality industry in the province and give a new height to tourism and investment. He said that the project will make a significant contribution to regional tourism, business development, and economic progress.
Along with Chaulani, another big investment is being made in Dhangadhi, the four-star Hotel Sunlight. Preparations for operating the star hotel of Sunlight Pvt. Ltd., which has been in the hotel business for about 25 years, have reached the final stage.
About 95 percent of the construction work has been completed and the hotel will be operational next Dashain. According to operator Kalam Bam, the hotel will have facilities including luxury rooms, conference hall, swimming pool, gym, sauna, basement parking, garden restaurant and casino.
According to operator Bam, more than 150 people will be employed in the first phase when the hotel is operational. According to him, there is a plan to upgrade the four-star hotel to five stars immediately after it is operational.
Operator Bam is also the former president of the Hotel Entrepreneurs Association Kailali. He understands that first and foremost, a quality hotel is necessary for the development of tourism in the Far West. The relationship between hotels and tourism is like a nail and flesh. Without hotels, quality tourists will not come, and if quality tourists do not come, the hotel will not operate,' said Bam.
Balame said that even though the Far West has abundant natural resources, tourists have not been able to enter due to the lack of quality accommodation. That is why he says that the private sector is taking risks and investing heavily in the hotel sector.
‘If a good hotel is operated, not only the hotel will run, but also transport, agriculture, dairy, fruits, vegetables, local products and hundreds of jobs,’ he said. Bam understands that this will bring a big change to the local and provincial economy.

Businessmen’s eye on the Indian market
Since the border is open, there is a great potential for Indian tourists in the Far West. If international-level hotels come into operation, the tourism industry will also gain new momentum.
The population of Uttar Pradesh, India, which borders the Far West, is about 250 million. The population of Uttarakhand is also large. If we can attract tourists from these two states alone, there can be a big change in tourism in the Far West.
‘Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are close to us. If we can bring even a small portion of tourists from there here, the nature of tourism and economy in the Far West can change,’ says Bam, the operator of Sunlight.
The strategy of the Hotel Holiday Inn of the Chaulani Club will also attract Indian tourists. In a press conference, the hotel's managing director, Man Singh Saud, said that Indian citizens can be brought in as religious tourists and marriage destinations.
Apart from these two, many other hotels are also planning to make a leap in the hotel sector by increasing their services. According to Keshav Dutt Pandey, president of the Hoteliers Association of Kailali, five star-level hotels are currently in the process of construction and upgrading in Dhangadhi and Mahendranagar.
Api Village, Chaulani Group, Hotel Sunlight, Chetan Hotel in Mahendranagar and Temple Resort are expanding their infrastructure according to the standards of star hotels. According to him, a large private investment has been coming into the hotel sector in the Far West recently.

"The arrival of big hotels is the promotion of this sector in the international market. Hotels affiliated with international chains bring their own customers, which helps in tourism promotion," Pandey said. However, he said that there is also a risk of unhealthy competition if too many hotels are opened without expanding the market.

According to the data of the Hoteliers Association, there are currently more than 8,000 hotels, both small and large, in the Far West. Their investment is more than 24 billion. They have provided more than 50,000 jobs. Of these, about 2,500 hotels are operating in central Kailali alone. Businessmen say that the size of the hotel sector, when evaluated with assets, will reach nearly one trillion rupees.

Policy weaknesses hinder the influx of tourists
New hope has arisen among tourism entrepreneurs as investment in large and star-level hotels in the province is increasing. They have taken the development of hotels as a positive sign to attract international tourists.
However, tourism entrepreneur Parmanand Bhandari says that due to lack of policy support, international publicity and infrastructure, there are still challenges in attracting the expected tourists. He considers the border market connected to India as the major basis for tourism expansion in the Far West.
‘The border of the Far West can be reached in five to six hours from Delhi. However, the package connecting Khaptad, Shuklaphanta, Badimalika, Mahakali and Karnali by allowing tourists coming to Nepal via Delhi to enter the Far West has not been effectively marketed,’ he said.
According to him, apart from Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan, the Far West has still become an overlooked destination for foreign tourists. He said that tourism entrepreneurs have not been able to reap the expected benefits as international travel agencies and the Nepal Tourism Board have not promoted the province sufficiently.
Bhandari expressed regret over the fact that the Nepal Tourism Board has a provincial office in the Far West. ‘If there had been an office, regular promotion could have been carried out from the border Indian cities to the international market. We have been demanding this for years, but the office has not been opened yet,’ says Bhandari.
Entrepreneurs have demanded that the government remove unnecessary hassles for tourists at the border checkpoints, formulate a tourist-friendly policy, expand tourism infrastructure and provide an investment-friendly environment for the private sector.
According to them, if there is effective coordination between government policy and private sector investment in the Far West, which has immense potential for natural, religious and adventure tourism, the province can become a new tourism destination.
According to Keshav Dutt Pandey, president of the Hoteliers Association Kailali, infrastructure including the upgrade of Geta Airport, Fapla International Cricket Stadium, and dry port will also greatly support tourism in the future.
However, he complains that the hotel and tourism-friendly policy is still not enough. Pandey says that the government should provide electricity subsidies like the industry, tax exemptions for the private sector investing in the tourism sector, concessional loans, and long-term leases in the tourism sector.
The expansion of star hotels has raised new hopes in the province's economy and tourism sector. However, businessmen say that tourism will not automatically increase if the number of hotels increases. For that, they say that attention should be paid to the government's tourism-friendly policy, international promotion, easy transportation, border management, and quality infrastructure.