Tourism in Nepal

Nepal is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. With thousands of tourists who has visiting the county every year, Tourism in Nepal has risen up to new heights. Nepal has become a popular tourist hotspot in the world. The capital city of the country, Kathmandu and the city of lakes, Pokhara are the main cities in the country to see a sharp increase in the number of tourists in recent years. With trekking routes to Everest and Annapurna has also flooded by foreigners annually, trekking has added the boost to increase the tourism market.

From UNESCO world heritage sites to different ancient destinations, from a diverse ethnic community to experiencing different cultures and traditions, all of which have been successful to get the interest of foreigners to visit the country of Nepal.  So how did Nepal which is a small country at South East Asia become a hub, which has been successful to attract travelers from all around the globe? To get a better grasp on how this developing country has made its way to being one of the top global tourism industries, let us take a look at how this all started.

History Of Tourism in Nepal

The History of Tourism in Nepal began, after the first successful expedition of Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary to reach the main summit in Everest. Before 1951, tourism was the option for the country as the Rana Regime had banned any sort of foreigners from entering the country. It wasn’t after the successful climbing of Everest that tourism had started to flourish in Nepal. In 1956, the National Planning Council on Tourism was established. With an addition to the National tourist Development Board establishment in the same year and Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation began  its services in 1959, tourism come to fruition in Nepal. 

In the 1960’s and early 1970s, hippies started to notice Nepal as the place to get the abundant amount for marijuana and hashish. The government started to notice the event and banned the selling of marijuana and hashish in the year of 1973. This became a turning point in the tourism sector of Nepal. More and more people started to visit the country for its traditional culture and religion. With a high inflow of refugees from Tibet Buddhism started to become popular. As the community became diverse and well spread, in the 1980’s Nepal tourism board formally started to promote Nepal as a great destination for traveling. After the 2000’s the country is seeing a rise with the tourist inflow every year. Thousands of travelers are coming to Nepal to explore the pristine natural beauty and to observe the vast and rich cultures and traditions that it holds with its diverse religious communities.

Development of Tourism in Nepal

The popularity of tourism in Nepal after the nation began to take better care about the natural atmosphere which also helped the development of Tourism in the nation. Nepal is considered the second richest country in water sources. This also helped in giving promotion of cities like Pokhara which is also known as the city of lakes. With the capital who is bustling from tourists because of the only international airport in Nepal which is the Tribhuvan International Airport. Kathmandu also become the center for several hotels , restaurants and guest house to received the guests.

Mt Everest was already the top destination for all travelers to visit Nepal but began to change as a new trekking routes came into the operation. Pokhara has also made a big contribution by promoting trekking adventures around the city and surrounding mountain valleys. The example of the famous trek is the base camp of Mt Annapurna which is at 8091 m and 26,545 feet.

With the Everest trails which are flooded by tourists and travelers, new with the Everest trails is also flooded by many tourists and travelers, there are new exploration options to some of the world highest peak to became famous. Here are 8 of the top 10 highest peaks in the world lie in Nepal.  So you can see why trekking has became the famous tourism boot for the country of Nepal. With cities , trekking has became famed adventure activities such as bungee jumping, rafting, paragliding and zipline and many more has started to become high responses from the travelers.

Here are some significant aspects of Nepal.

• Nepal has a rich forest area and has diverse flora and fauna that have risen the curiosity of several scientists around the globe,
• The country is also the holder of several UNESCO World Heritage sites and popular destinations all throughout the world.
• The jungle safari in Chitwan was also the main boot of the Asian traveling market that has also increased the coming of foreigners.
• Lumbini is also the birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha also lies in Nepal and has brought Buddhist from all over the world.

Tourism Department /Organizations

There are several tourism department and organizations which governs and regulates the practices of the tourism in Nepal. Some of the organizations are here. 

Nepal Tourism Board

Nepal Tourism Board is the national tourism organization of Nepal which was established in 1998 by an Act of Parliament in the form of partnership between the Government of Nepal and private sector tourism industry to develop and marketable for Nepal to be an attractive tourist destination. The Board also provides platform for vision-drawn leadership for the Nepal’s tourism sector by integrating Government commitment with the dynamism for the private sector.

As per Nepal Tourism Board Act 2053 (1997), the Nepalese Tourism Board it has to develop, expand and promote tourism business to present Nepal in the international field as a fascinating tourist destination.

Objectives of Nepal Tourism Board

• To introduce Nepal in the internal arena by developing the nation as a hot spot for tourist destination
• To develop, expand and promote tourism business upon protecting and promoting natural and cultural heritage and environment of the nation.
• To form maximum employment by increasing national production and foreign currency through the development expansion and promotion of tourism in the country.
• To also assist and established and to develop organizations which is necessary for tourism development.

Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN):

Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) is the umbrella association for the trekking agencies in the country. It was established in the year 1979 by some of the trekking agency operators who felt it was time to devise sound business principles as well as regulate the sector which was growing by leaps and bounds annually. They also felt the need of a strong group that could suggest to the government several issues to promote the Nepali tourism industry and develop tourism as a revenue-generated industry.

Objectives of TAAN are:

• Develop and promote mountain tourism in Nepal.
• Contribute to preserving the mountainous environment of Nepal
• To uplift the mountainous economy of Nepal.
• Preserve the rights and promote the trekking member agencies too.
• To make regular facilities which are provided by the member trekking agencies to their staff and also include the porters.
• Promoting mountain tourism in collaboration with several government and semi-government bodies, domestic and international INGOs.

3. Nepal Mountaineering Association

Nepal Mountaineering Association had established at 1 November 1973 (2030 Kartik 16) Thursday. It is the non-governmental, non-profit and non-political organization while working as a national alpine association of Nepal to promote mountain tourism, , protect mountain environments , thrilling climbs and preserve and also for the promotions cultural heritage of mountain people. It is the only national alpine club authorized that is  issue climbing permits for 27 mountain peaks in the kingdom of Nepal.

Objectives of NMA are:

• Explore the mountain peaks and also promote the mountain climbing tourism
• Issue the climb permits as agreed with the Government of Nepal.
• Protect as well as promote the mountainous people, culture, and heritage of the place.
• Develop and promote skilled human capital to support mountain climbing.
• Develop sport climb tourism in Nepal
• Emergency Rescue, Rehab, and Humanitarian support those community who is in need.
• Preserve the natural environment in the mountain regions for a sustainable future.

Major tourist destination in Nepal 

Everest base camp trek 

Annapurna base camp trek 

Mardi Himal trek 

Poon hill trek 

Annapurna circuit trek 

Manaslu circuit trek 

Kathmandu Valley 

Chitawan National park 

Lumbini (Birth Place of lord Buddha), and many more…