appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Bibek Bhandari

Nepal’s tourism industry is scrambling to offset a sharp fall in Western visitors during the peak spring trekking season, with operators and officials turning their attention to Asia-Pacific markets as conflict-linked travel disruptions ripple through the Middle East.
Arrivals from the Americas and Europe, which account for a sizeable share of Nepal’s higher-spending long-haul tourism business, dropped by nearly 25 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, during March compared with the same period last year, official figures show.
Even so, stronger demand from Asian markets helped limit the overall damage, with total visitor numbers slipping by just 1 per cent as the Iran war escalated last month.
Mani Raj Lamichhane, senior director at the Nepal Tourism Board, a semi-government body, said the decline reflected disruption to flights through Gulf hubs, which were crucial to Nepal’s long-haul connections.
More than 70 per cent of Nepal’s long-haul passengers came via the Middle East, mostly through Doha in Qatar and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, he said.

Home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks, Nepal draws tens of thousands of visitors each year to trek in the Everest and Annapurna regions, among others. Spring and autumn months are the busiest seasons, offering clearer skies and better trekking conditions.
However, more than 400 flights to and from Gulf countries have been cancelled since the war started at the end of February, disrupting at least 17 regular daily flights, mostly carrying migrant workers and Nepal-bound tourists.
“There are many booking cancellations from European and American markets, which is worrying tourism entrepreneurs,” Lamichhane said. “Many hotel rooms are empty, too, but we hope tourists from other countries will temporarily make up for the decline in our traditional markets in the West.”
Counting the cost
Mohan Poudel, a tour guide of 16 years, works with hundreds of visitors each spring and autumn, guiding them to the Annapurna Base Camp and along other trekking routes. But he said this year had been dreadfully quiet.
Last month, four separate tour groups of roughly 30 people from France, Germany and Austria cancelled their trips due to the travel disruptions. He usually makes several trips to the Annapurna Base Camp during peak seasons, but only went once in March this year.
For many guides who largely depend on European and American trekkers, the decline is directly affecting their income. Poudel, with a family of seven, said he usually depended on tourist dollars during peak season and farmed in other months.
“On a good month, I generally made about 70,000 rupees [US$470] in high season, but last month I hardly even made 10 per cent of that,” he said. “It is not as bad as it was during Covid, but not having the usual number of tourists and income is still stressful.”
Hotels in and around the picturesque town of Pokhara, the start of the Annapurna trek, have similar concerns.
Since opening last year, the Nana Mountain Resort in Dhampus, roughly 25km (15.5 miles) from Pokhara, has faced multiple disruptions – including the youth uprising just before the autumn tourist season and the country’s election in March – and was hoping for a spring recovery. But cancellations from the European and Israeli markets have wiped out nearly 60 per cent of its target.


“New properties like us are more vulnerable to any shocks,” said Vivek Pyakuryal, CEO of Nana Hotels and Resorts.
“We should worry a little for the off-season due to the shocks from these two months. Also, when we don’t have seasonal income, it disrupts the whole ecosystem and puts strain on labour, suppliers and the communities that depend on us.”
Meanwhile, some industry insiders say visitors are still arriving despite geopolitical tensions but are worried that rising fuel costs and airfares could dampen business in the months ahead.
“We are seeing a noticeable slowdown in inquiries for the next six to nine months, which will affect occupancy,” said Jack Edwards, managing director of Tiger Tops, a luxury safari adventure company operating for over 50 years.
“The softening in demand suggests that the broader impact of the crisis is likely to be felt more acutely in the medium term.”
Looking east
Tourism entrepreneurs said weakness in Western markets was also opening a window for Nepal to diversify and tap broader Asian demand.
Arrivals from the Asia-Pacific rose by nearly 20 per cent in March from a year earlier, alongside a similar increase in visitors from South Asia.
Bijay Amatya, a veteran tourism entrepreneur and CEO of Kora Tours, said the current crisis could cut tourist arrivals by around 30 per cent if the war dragged on, but Nepal could bounce back by “changing its strategy” – shifting focus beyond India and China to Southeast Asia, while clearly communicating that “Nepal is open, safe and worth the journey”.

Data shows that visitors from Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar rose steadily last month year on year, which industry insiders say is an “encouraging” trend. This comes as the Nepal Tourism Board marks 2026 as the Nepal-Asean tourism year.
Binayak Shah, president of the Hotel Association of Nepal, said the new government must move swiftly to operationalise the international airports in Pokhara and Bhairahawa – nearby Buddha’s birthplace in Lumbini – which have been largely idle for years.
He added that the proposed two-day weekend aimed at cutting fuel use could also spur domestic travel, though the state-run Nepal Oil Corporation has cautioned against the move. Nepal has traditionally followed a six-day work week, with Saturday typically the only day off.
“Domestic tourists could slightly substitute for the reduced visitors,” he said.
Others in the industry are betting on a rebound, saying Nepal’s tourism sector has endured repeated shocks before – from the 2015 earthquake to political unrest and the pandemic – and recovered each time over the past decade.
“Nepal’s tourism sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience,” Edwards said. “The industry consistently adapted and recovered, and I am confident that this situation will be no different.”


Flood-ravaged Nepal pushes for climate deal with India, China

‘We lost everything’: Nepal flood survivors return to find little of their former lives

Young Nepalis battle climate dread in wake of flood disaster

Singaporean climber dies on Nepal’s Mount Manaslu, first foreign casualty of season

Nepal

Nepal’s trekking trade looks east as Iran war disrupts Western tourist flow

With conflict disrupting flights through the Middle East, Nepal’s tourism sector is counting on Asian trekkers to help soften the blow. Photo: Shutterstock

A tourist spins the prayer wheels while circumnavigating the Swayambhunath Stupa, a Unesco World Heritage site in Kathmandu. Photo: Getty Images

Trekkers watch the sun rise over the Annapurna Range in central Nepal. Photo: AP 

Nepal’s school fee crackdown upends South Asian private education norms

School students watch news about Balendra Shah, Nepal’s new prime minister, on a mobile phone in Kathmandu last month. Photo: EPA

Students leave school to walk home in Punarbas, Nepal’s Kanchanpur district. The country’s crackdown on private school fees has sparked a debate on education costs. Photo: Reuters

Balendra Shah is sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister during a ceremony in Kathmandu last month. Photo: Xinhua

Students attend a menstrual awareness workshop at a school in Tatopani village, central Nepal. Photo: Handout

Children crouch under their desks during an earthquake drill at a school in Nepal in 2019. In a bid to tackle profiteering in private education, the government has introduced mandatory transparent pricing. Photo: EPA-EFE

Nepal to apologise to ‘untouchable’ Dalits for first time

A Dalit woman sits with a child in Humla district, in Nepal’s remote northwest. Photo: AFP

Balendra Shah is sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister during a ceremony in Kathmandu on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

Dalit activists chant slogans during a protest in Kathmandu in 2015 demanding equal rights in Nepal’s constitution. Photo: AFP

A Dalit family at their home in Simikot, Nepal. Nearly 42 per cent of Dalits in the country live below the poverty line. Photo: AFP

Nepal’s probe into deadly uprising finds ex-prime minister, officials ‘reckless’

People burn tyres during a demonstration in Kathmandu on September 9 to condemn the Nepali police’s deadly crackdown on protesters. Photo: AFP

A picture of former Nepali prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli lies on the floor in a building that houses the Prime Minister’s office after the deadly anti-corruption protests last year. Photo: Reuters

Photos of people who died in last year’s Gen-Z uprising in Nepal displayed in front of the parliament gate in Kathmandu. Photo: EPA

Balendra Shah (centre), prime ministerial candidate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, receives his election victory certificate on March 8 in Jhapa, Nepal. Photo: AP

Nepal voted for change. Can its rapper-engineer PM deliver?

Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party takes a selfie with children and supporters during a door-to-door election campaign on February 16. Photo: AFP

Nepal’s national flag is seen flying at half-mast through a structure built in the shape of country’s map in Kathmandu last September following that month’s deadly unrest. Photo: AFP

Nepali migrant workers speak with airport officials in Kathmandu on March 1 after multiple international flights were cancelled amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. Photo: EPA

Maoist activists chant slogans during anti-government protests in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2009. Photo: AFP

Young Nepalis stand in front of the parliament gate in Kathmandu where photos of people who died in last year’s Gen-Z uprising are displayed on March 11. Photo: EPA

Nepal’s new government signals shift in India, China relations

Balendra Shah greets supporters in Damak, Jhapa district, on March 7 after winning the election. Photo: Reuters

Balendra Shah shakes hands with supporters after collecting a certificate for his victory in the election on March 7. Photo: AFP

Passengers wait for transport outside Pokhara International Airport on December 18, 2024. Photo: VCG/Getty Images

Chinese President Xi Jinping (second right) and wife Peng Liyuan pose for a group photo with then-Nepali prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli and his wife at the Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Centre on August 31, 2025. Photo: Xinhua

This Week in Asia

Economics

People

News

Asia

South Asia

Flight disruptions through Gulf hubs have cut Western arrivals, prompting tourism operators to chase travellers from Asia-Pacific markets


Flight disruptions through Gulf hubs have cut Western arrivals, prompting tourism operators to chase travellers from Asia-Pacific markets.


Nepal’s trekking trade looks east as Iran war disrupts Western tourist flow

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Flight disruptions through Gulf hubs have cut Western arrivals, prompting tourism operators to chase travellers from Asia-Pacific markets

Flight disruptions through Gulf hubs have cut Western arrivals, prompting tourism operators to chase travellers from Asia-Pacific markets