Hotels seeks clarity on 4 percent subsidy as loan deferment nears end

The hotel industry has put up a letter to the Ministry of Information, Commerce and Economics (MoICE) following the discussion on the review report on tourism policy by the Economic and Finance Committee. The letter states the need for a clarification and update on the 4 percent subsidy, and if it will happen or not since the loan deferment extension period is coming to an end, and they need an answer by now.

The hotel industry is still waiting for a solid solution after the loan deferment period ended in July this year, after which MoICE said that it will start the 4 percent ESP subsidy. RMA also granted extension for the hotel industry till December.

As December nears its end, the hotel industry is extremely worried since they still haven’t got any responses from MoICE and banks regarding the 4 percent subsidary, which if implemented, will help the industry hugely.

Hoteliers express their frustration on this and say that they have tried so many ways to go about this pertaining issue to no avail.

In November 2025, there have been a total of 21,041 visitors, which is 5,051 higher than that of November last year.

From January till November this year, there have been a total of 182,556 visitors in the country, which is 50,179 more than January to November last year.

To meet the 300,000 target set by the government, there needs to be 117,444 more visitors in December.

A hotelier said that for the country to promote High Value Low Volume tourism, there has to be some major changes, and only increasing number of regional tourists will not be enough. The hoteliers state that they did not see any output from the Parliament session, and now the discussion regarding the tourism policy review report is already over. While they do appreciate the Economic and Finance Committee’s effort, they said that a solution would be the most helpful right now.

Sources state that the hotel industry is upset and waiting for a resolution.

The hotel industry is currently waiting for the response from the MoICE Minister.