As the country’s hospitality sector is gradually coming out from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has come up with yet another grand strategy to revive the tourism sector. The new plan has been brought forward three years after Visit Nepal 2020 which was called off in March 2020 as the pandemic swept the globe. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation on Friday unveiled the strategic framework designed for the Nepal Tourism Decade 2023-2032. As per the framework, Nepal plans to bring in 3.5 million tourists, excluding India and those coming overland, in the next 10 years. The framework developed by a four-member expert panel led by the former Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) CEO Prachanda Man Shrestha has set ambitious targets of increasing tourist spending to $125 daily from the existing $48, creating 1m direct jobs in the tourism sector, and increasing the tourism sector’s contribution to national GDP to 10 percent. The plan also aims to bring the tourist numbers to pre-pandemic levels by 2024 and increase arrivals in each subsequent year by 15 percent.

The new plan has outlined areas of focus for each year from 2023 to 2032. While 2023 will be the year for preparations, 2024 will be focused on Bagmati Province, 2025 on Gandaki Province, and 2027 on Lumbini Province. In 2028, the focus will be on Madesh Province, while in 2029, 2030, and 2031, Sudur Paschhim, Province 1, and Karnali Province will get the focus. The year 2026 and 2032 will be marked by national-level programs.

Unveiling the framework on Friday, Tourism Minister Jeevan Ram Shrestha said that the new plan’s objective is to revive the country’s tourism sector after the two years setback of Covid-19 and establish Nepal as a year-round destination. When Covid-19 hit the world, Nepal had already started the tourism extravaganza of Visit Nepal Year 2020. The campaign, launched to attract two million tourists and earn Rs 200 billion in foreign currency, was formally canceled due to the pandemic. And, what followed was the worst years for the Nepali tourism industry. The tourist arrivals hit a 34-year low in 2020 when only 230,085 foreigners visited Nepal. The next year, the situation was even worse as Nepal received only 150,962 foreigners, the lowest since 1977. In 2019, Nepal had 1.2m tourists visiting the country. Tourism entrepreneurs and experts have cautiously welcomed the government’s new grand plan. Binayak Shah, First Vice president of the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) welcomed the government’s move as a good decision. “It is like something is better than nothing,” he said. According to Shah, countries are trying to resurrect their tourism post-Covid. "While the intent is good, it is yet to be seen how the government will work to achieve the targets," said Shah. But, Deepak Raj Joshi, former CEO of NTB has a different opinion and said that the whole concept of organizing a Tourism Year or Tourism Decade is now old-fashioned. “I don’t think tourists will be attracted to this kind of campaign and slogans as we have been using the same formula for around three decades,” he said. The government’s new push for Nepali tourism has come at a time when star hotels have started to generate revenue as tourist arrivals have improved. The number of tourists has started to increase as Nepal welcomed 546,216 foreigners in the first 11 months of 2022. The business of five-star hotels which has slowed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic is also gradually bouncing back. The first quarter report of three hotels listed in the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) shows five-star hotels have increased their business in this fiscal year. Orients Hotel Ltd which owns the five-star property Radisson Hotel has registered revenue of Rs 196.98m in the first quarter of FY 2022/23, compared to Rs 36.50 million in the same period of FY 2021/22. Taragaon Regency Hotels Limited, which operates the Hyatt Regency Hotel has logged a turnover of Rs 181.55 million in the first quarter of this fiscal compared to Rs 53.51m in the same period of the last fiscal. Meanwhile, Soaltee Hotel Limited posted a turnover of Rs 413.27m in the first quarter of FY 2022/23 compared to Rs 123.67m in the same period of the last fiscal. Despite the government’s grand tourism plan, there are still some stumbling blocks that could derail the recovery prospect. For Nepal to get a good number of international tourists in the coming years, the operation of two-recently built international airports is extremely critical. Tourism entrepreneurs agree there is a dire need to improve connectivity if Nepal wants to gain from the post-pandemic period in which tourist inflow is expected to surge. The government has recently started the operation of Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa, Lumbini while it is planning a commercial operation of the other one - Pokhara Regional International Airport from 1 Jan 2023. However, stakeholders are skeptical about whether the two new airports will be commercially operational as envisioned. Joshi agrees the government should focus more on connectivity. According to him, the government should focus on strategic plans such as how we could invite more tourists by utilizing the existing resources we have. “The government should focus more on connectivity which I find lacking. For example, we now have three international airports. If we could use them at maximum, 3.5m tourists in 10 years is not a big deal,” said Joshi. Nepal Tourism Decade Target

• Increasing tourist spending to $125 from the existing $48
• Creating 1 million direct jobs in the tourism sector
• Increasing the tourism sector's contribution to national GDP to 10 percent
• Bringing the tourist numbers to pre-pandemic levels by 2024

Implementation 2023 will be the year for preparations, 2024 will be focused on Bagmati Province, 2025 on Gandaki Province, and 2027 on Lumbini Province. In 2028, the focus will be on Madesh Province, while in 2029, 2030, and 2031, Sudur Paschhim, Province 1, and Karnali Province will get the focus. The year 2026 and 2032 will be marked by national-level programs.