The cabinet meeting has decided to extend the suspension of domestic airlines in Nepal till the end of Bhadra and the regular international flights does not intend on bringing foreign tourists anytime soon to Nepal as per the decision made by Nepal Government. So that pretty much sums the reason why one of the peak tourism season of Nepal will see a few to no tourist at all this year and that is one of the Covid-19 effect.
September and November are one of the peak seasons of tourism in Nepal and this is one of the best time of the year for trekking in the high mountains of Nepal but it seems like these high mountains will not receive any guests this year. Covid-19 has affected tourism like nothing else. It is one of the worst hit industries in the whole world and has resulted in the billions of loss in tourism industry as a whole. From airlines to the small hotels, everyone is suffering, For a country like Nepal where tourism is one of the major economic backbone of the nation, it is far more worse. Within the first half of the year 2020, the tourism sector of Nepal has seen a huge loss already and the next half does not look promising at all. Airlines, hotels and travel agents all are helpless. It has already been more than five months since the start of lockdown but still there is not an optimal plan or any ways to generate tourism in Nepal. While the renovation of different heritage sites in Nepal are effectively moving on, the tourism sector as a whole is totally under hold. There are only two international airlines in Nepal that operates international flights: Himalaya Airlines and Nepal airlines. They were continuously operating chartered flights while on the other hand domestic airlines were totally suspended and still are not permitted to fly. So the struggle is real here.
September is already here and with the resumption of the international flights, the trekking season has already started in Nepal but there are no tourist and it is likely to be so for quite a while. Even the tourists who are still in Nepal can not go for trekking as different cities of Nepal are still under lockdown and traveling from one zone to another is strictly prohibited. The very first thing for a probable chance for tourism to resume in Nepal is the end of lockdown which does not seem to end anytime soon. With lockdown and the rising Covid-19 cases in Nepal, it is actually hard to predict tourism and tourist influx in this trekking season. However, the concerned authorities responsible for the tourism activities in Nepal are working on to find out an optimal way to generate tourism in Nepal especially inside the Kathmandu valley. As per the news, The tourism minister of Nepal has asked Nepal Tourism Board to find a way and make a plan to generate tourism in Kathmandu valley that could hold 500000 tourist at max. The capital of Nepal, Kathmandu which has been named as one of the best destination to travel in Asia can attract huge number of tourist. There are so many destinations to travel inside Kathmandu valley and lots of things to do. So if only the concerned authorities could find an optimal solution to generate tourism inside the valley only, then we can expect the flow of tourist in Nepal in coming days. For that, Kathmandu valley should be declared as a safe zone first to get the attention of tourists or else there will be no tourist at all because safety has always been a top most priority and will always be.
Some of the destinations in Nepal are free Covid-19 cases but traveling over there is only possible after the end of lockdown. The next cabinet meeting will make the decision about the extension of the lockdown or putting it to an end. Even if the lockdown is put to an end, traveling from one state to the another is likely to be strict. Domestic airlines is the safest means to travel internally in Nepal in these times of Covid-19 but it is not going to be operated for a while now. So the Covid-19 effect is really choking the tourism of Nepal.
However, the Ministry, Tourism boards and several other departments are trying to find a way to generate tourism in Nepal but are tourist ready to travel? This is one of the important question. So if Nepal intends om generating tourism in Nepal in these times of crisis, it should be prepared at first and make tourist believe that they are actually ready for tourism in Nepal.
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