Nepal Travel Trend Summary 2018

Nov, 23 2018 Extollo Adventures

Nepal travel faced both positive and negative vibrations in 2018. After the devastating earthquake of 2015, Nepal travel industry raised up to the height like never before because travelers around the world have again added Nepal in their travel bucket list as a once in a lifetime destination. Exciting adventures, varied natural landscapes, and unique culture in this Himalayan country continued to remain atop of traveler’s interest.

The impact of global climate change was clearly seen among all the travel seasons in Nepal during 2018, including those which were considered the best. The major tourist season of Nepal in 2018 was affected by weather alteration which was reflected by unexpected rains, snowfall, and drought. Immediate measures need to be taken care of while traveling in the Himalaya to reduce further deterioration of mountain ecology in Nepal. However, Mother Nature has never let down this beautiful nation and has survived the worst case scenarios, even after many days of flight cancellations, stuck in the middle of trails and inadequate food supply while traveling. People who traveled Nepal have kept on admiring its natural beauty, hospitality/friendliness of people and tourist-friendly policy of government even after drastic political reforms being a federal country after long been ruled by a great king like Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.

Great Himalayan Trails are still challenging tourists to explore the wilderness and discover the ultimate level of satisfaction through travel. Nepalese are waiting for more tourists to travel to Nepal and discover their naturally inspiring country. Yes, Nepal actually inspires visitors to travel and live with nature.

Tourist’s flow behavior in Nepal till 2018:

A total of 753,002 tourists visited Nepal in 2016 and within a year, this number increased to about 25% to tally 940,218 in 2017. Latest reports indicate that the number of tourists in 2018 is the highest in the history of Nepal tourism industry.  Among this, 40% of tourists were aged from 16 to 30 years old. Nepal is gradually attracting higher number of young tourists. Apart from Nepal’s neighboring countries of India and China, the number of tourists from the United States of America and the United Kingdom were the highest on the list during 2017. Surprisingly, only 13% of the total tourists visited this country for trekking and mountaineering purpose, 34% for holidays and leisure and highest 53% visited Nepal for Pilgrimage tour. These data also include tourists from India and China.

Nepal’s diverse cultural and traditional values immersed deep inside purity of Hinduism infused with Buddhism, becoming a major reason for the increased number of pilgrim tourists. China’s major population is Buddhist and India’s major population is Hindus, and as a result, Nepal became a common point of attraction for pilgrims from both India and China. Tourists visiting Nepal for trekking and mountaineering are mostly from USA and UK. Having higher per capita income and an immense pleasure towards nature & Himalaya, the number of adventurers from USA and UK are still the highest in 2018 for trekking and mountaineering.

The cost of Himalayan excursions like trekking, hiking, and climbing are higher than the cost of pilgrimage tours and other tours in Nepal. 199 mountaineers from different countries successfully summitted Mt. Everest (8,848m), 74 climbed Mt. Kanchenjunga (8,586m), 25 climbed Mt. Makalu (8,463m), 60 climbed Mt. Dhaulagiri (8,167m), 265 climbed Mt. Manaslu (8,163m), 6 did Mt. Annapurna I (8,091 m)  in 2017. Other 565 climbers reached the top of Himalayan peaks less 8000 meters height which included Mt. Amadablam (6,814 m), Mt. Baruntse (7,129 m), Mt. Himlung Himal (7,126 m), Mt. Saribung (6,346m), Thapa Peak/Dhampus Peak (6,012 m) and others. Americans ranked the first, followed by the Chinese and the French people in terms of numbers for mountain expedition in Nepal during 2017. Please get access to numerical data of Government of Nepal through this link.

Maintenance of existing destinations and search for new tourist destinations in Nepal 2018

Nepal government in 2018 has recognized 100 new tourist destinations throughout the nation. Many reputed travel-related publications have endorsed Nepal as the best natural and Himalayan tourist destination in the world. This also accounts for diversity of culture and hospitality of people. All trekking trails in Nepal which were badly affected by 2015 Gorkha earthquake, but those trails have come to full operations after reconstruction by the end of 2017. Renovation projects of historical sites, cultural sites and monuments are still in progress and expected to be accomplished by the end of 2019.

Maintaining ecological balance and natural vulnerability of the most visited tourist destinations like Everest Base Camp, Annapurna Base Camp, Pokhara and Kathmandu became top challenges for Nepalese tourism industry.  Also, global society was concerned about degrading environment of Sagarmatha National Park due to overcrowd and high frequency of Helicopter flights in the area, damaging the ecosystem of this area. The tourism associations in Nepal could not play any positive role to protect the natural environment of tourist destinations in Nepal. As usual, these organizations appeared to be just for names and economic benefits of members around it in 2018 as well. Nepal government also made no significant approaches in protecting the natural tourist destinations of Nepal. However, Extollo Adventures has effectively launched its nature protection campaigns with WWF Nepal and local stakeholders in every tourist destination. They have been offering eco-friendly lifestyle lessons for the tourists visiting with them. Locals at every tourist destination where Extollo operates are encouraged to save ecology and tourists are taught to live their rest of life in an eco-friendly way as far as practicable.

100 new tourist destinations recently recognized by Nepal government are less frequently traveled with unique holiday features in each destination.  Here is the list of all new tourist destinations in Nepal so that you can get firsthand experience of those places.

Traveling to/in Nepal has been made easy and safe in 2018

Nepal has provided tremendously easy access to its beautiful countryside remote villages, historical and natural sites. Nepal is not difficult to reach from any part of the globe and getting around those beautiful majestic high Himalayas, surreal natural beauties with the unique lifestyle of its inhabitants. At around seven decades back from now, Nepal was untouched from natural destruction. Tony Hagen, a geological field worker from technical assistance programme of United Nation filmed Nepal (Video Link) in 1951 which is a proof regarding how naturally pure and beautiful Nepal had been.

For the first time, Dolpa district of Nepal is connected with roadway transportation in November 2018. This made all the District headquarters of Nepal connected with road transportation. Travelers will encounter bumpy roads because of its terrain, so it is advised to take 4 W/D vehicles with higher ground clearance in order to avoid possible lag on the way. In Kathmandu, tactile paving has been done along both sides of the road, so blind people can easily get around. Roads are being made of higher standards since the current government penalized some corrupt contractors recently. Highway safety has risen to a higher level since the same time of 2017.

Drivers of all the public vehicles and tourist vehicles who are responsible for taking us around Nepal are regularly examined for their proficiency and accountability, hence leaving no rooms for accidents. Best tourist attractions of Nepal like Mustang, Muktinath, Pokhara, Gorkha, Bandipur, Chitwan, Lumbini etc. are easily accessible by roadways or by airways. Nepal government made the double engine a must for tiny airplanes flying to Himalayan destinations like Lukla by the end of 2017 decreasing the risk of flight accidents too.

There was history when only Royal Families from Great Britain came to Nepal for visits in private jets whereas today international connectivity has raised up to Nepal from every part of the world. Many reputed international airline companies have been adding flights to Nepal after the government announced the year 2020 to be marked as Visit Nepal Year. Salam Air from Oman is the latest in the list of many other international flights operating in Nepal. Aeroflot, China Southern, Etihad Airways, Fly Dubai, Fly Emirates, Jet Airways, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, are well-known names of airlines that are currently connecting Nepal with another part of the globe. Helicopter companies in Nepal are operating their flights to the Himalayas with new fleets every year. They have got permission from the government to establish their maintenance space and hangers inside Tribhuvan International Airport.

Not even a single tourist was harmed in any way intentionally from 2017 till October of 2018.

The United States of America marked Nepal in the list of safe countries to travel and continued to do so in 2018 too as there are not any noticed act of violence against tourist has been recorded since 2016. Presence of stable and good government system flourished in Nepal as a result of which local crime rates have fallen to negligible number. Nepalese police force has got modern technologies whereas Nepalese Army got combined training with global leading nations and Armed Police Force has securing the borders of Nepal letting no criminals in. People of Nepal treat every tourist as a form of god and welcome them better than the rest of the world do.

A strong relationship with INTERPOL has aided Nepal to achieve success in decriminalization while maintaining a peaceful environment of the nation. Nepalese political parties have made a common commitment not to demonstrate in streets. This implies their dedication and respect for the better facilities of tourists visiting Nepal. Political violence has dropped to least in number ever since Terai conflicts were over before 1 year time.

Institutional Scams made Nepalese Tourism Industry ashamed in 2018

The team of Extollo Adventures was shocked to hear that Travel Companies and even hospitals take a commission for rescue missions operated in the Himalayas. We ourselves were involved in the meeting with the tourism board of Nepal to figure out how we can make suitable ways against such inhuman acts. A final decision was made to involve police officers and local government bodies’ permission to operate each mission. Everything is under control now. This was the case about 4 months ago when it was discovered that few travel agencies who operate tours in cheap price would make travelers sick and unhealthy in the mountains, then proceed calling Helicopter Companies for rescue and charge the amount far more than it should be with Insurance Companies. The government of Nepal investigated and found that Himalayan Social Trekking, Easy Heli Charter Services, Bayodha Hospital, Norvic International Hospital, Grande International Hospital, Era Health Center were guilty of these inhuman scams. Follow this news link for detailed scam report by The Guardian.