Kathmandu, Sept. 26 -- Arun Rai, a resident of Dharan, is waiting for a call from an Abu Dhabi-based five-star hotel, where he worked as a chef. The hotel sent him home on unpaid leave in March, promising to call him back after three or four months. Nearly seven months later, he is still waiting.

The hotel sent Rai home days after the US and Israel began strikes on Iran on February 28, as the conflict began to hit the Gulf economy and its tourism and hospitality industries.

"The number of guests dropped sharply and the hotel reduced its staff to just 20 percent," Rai said. "They sent the rest of us home, saying they might call us back in three or four months."

He said he was losing about 7,000 dirhams, or roughly Rs300,000, in wages ev...