The tourism industry is struggling to reach the pre-covid numbers, with tourist arrivals via air dropping by 2.01 percent in the first quarter of 2025.
According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), a total of 298,558 international visitors arrived between January and March 2025, down from 304,693 in the same period of 2024. The decline, particularly pronounced in March, has been attributed to multiple factors, including a nighttime shutdown of Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal’s primary gateway, from November to March. The airport’s reduced operations to facilitate runway upgrades limited flight schedules during peak travel months, resulting in shortage of flights, lengthy transits and exorbitant ticket prices. Industry people say this forced tourists to divert to other destinations.
While January 2025 showed a slight improvement in arrivals compared to January 2024, the momentum faltered in February and March. The most significant decline occurred in March when international arrivals fell to 121,687—a 5.05 percent drop from the 128,167 recorded in March 2024. This figure also fell short of the pre-pandemic benchmark of 127,351 visitors in March 2019.
March marks the beginning of the spring tourism season which is considered the best for trekking and mountaineering. The spring season sees a lion’s share of mountaineering expeditions coming to Nepal. Most of the expeditions on Mt Everest, the tallest peak on earth, are organized in this season.
According to tourism entrepreneurs, tourist numbers will continue to increase till May which marks the end of the climbing season and the beginning of monsoon rains. While tourist numbers dip during the three months of June, July, and August, it starts picking up once the autumn season begins in September. The autumn season continues through December.
Tourist arrival figures released by NTB show March witnessed declines across most regions compared to the previous year. While arrivals from China fell by 5.4 percent, the number of visitors from South Asian (SAARC) countries fell by 13.4 percent and those from Europe decreased by 10.5 percent. India remained the top source country in the review month with 21,412 visitors, followed by China (11,443) and the United States (11,092). Other notable contributors included Sri Lanka (8,886), the United Kingdom (5,995), Thailand (4,986), Germany (4,709), Australia (4,228), Myanmar (3,754) and Bangladesh (3,576).
In terms of region, SAARC countries accounted for 35,287 tourists (29 percent), followed by Asian nations (except SAARC nations) 31,353 (25.8 percent), Europe 25,742 visitors (21.2 percent), the Americas 13,907 (11.4 percent), Oceania 4,643 (3.8 percent) and the Middle East 2,732 (2.2 percent).
