April 29: Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) has called on the government to bring a fiscal stimulus package for reviving the tourism sector that has been hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.    
An NCC delegation led by its president Rajesh Kaji Shrestha called for such package in suggestions it presented to the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Yogesh Bhattarai, on Monday.    
NCC urged the government to rescue the hotel and airlines companies by means of fiscal package as these sectors have been badly affected by the impact of COVID-19. It also called for bailing out the tourism sector as a whole from the adverse economic impact of the coronavirus by means of various measures.    
The NCC delegation has suggested providing financial support including tax and airport charge exemption. It called on the government and the Nepal Rastra Bank to support the sectors through loan, loan guarantees and corporate bond.    
NCC also suggested the government to formulate plan keeping the domestic tourism in priority and to focus its attention to promotion of internal tourism soon after COVID-19 impact subsided.    
It also urged the government to take initiatives for bringing in maximum number of tourists from various Chinese cities on competitive packages by Nepal Airlines, Himalayan Airlines and Chinese airlines in the upcoming tourism season of October and November.  -- RSS