Nepal: For All Seasons

Birat Anupam

When Nepal’s streets were rocked by Gen-Z youths’ protests in the second week of September, both civilian and governmental vehicles were stopped to ply. Interestingly, their restrictions were not at tourist vehicles.

Photos and videos emerged where tourists were being welcomed in good gestures. Even a British YouTuber named Harry Jackson, who turned out to be an accidental Gen-Z ground zero international reporter for his channel ‘We Hate The Cold’, has highlighted this kind treatment to the tourists by the angry protestors.

Nepal’s tourism made rapid bounce back days after the protests. Nepal Tourism Board launched ‘Nepal Now’ campaign to showcase the peaceful touristic avenues and activities.

”In Nepal, tourism has been a peacemaking sector”, said Suman Ghimire, Senior Manager at Nepal Tourism Board, the official tourism promoting agency of Nepal.

Ghimire added, ”Even in times of insurgency and conflicts, communities were bridged by touristic activities like fairs, festivals, exhibitions, home-stays and the likes.”

A Seasonless Destination

World knows Nepal’s tourism attraction mainly in spring and autumn seasons.

In spring, tourists gather for mountaineering. In autumn, trekking goes mainstay.

Home to the eight of the 14 mountains above eight thousand meters, Nepal has a lot to offer, both in spring and autumn seasons. Even in winter, Nepal has world-class tourism packages to offer.

According to Tanka Prasad Paudel, Assistant Campus Chief at Nepal Mountain Academy, skiing and ice-climbing and snow skating are Nepal’s major winter attractions.

”Badimalika and Kalinchowk are top skiing areas in Nepal’s winter”, said Paudel, also an avid trekker and climber, ”This year’s snowing makes it better.”

Paudel said Nepal Mountain Academy, the world’s first university course provider in mountaineering studies, has made academic and practical studies on Nepal’s feasible winter tourism activities. ”Our students and instructors have proved that Nepal is good skiing, ice-climbing and snow-skating destination.”

Sajana Tripathi, who works as a tour guide and tourism entrepreneur, seconds Paudel. ”Nepal is an all-weather destination and also a women-friendly destination”, Tripathi told NTV World.

Over 30 Thousand Nepali Tourist Guides

In 2024, Nepal welcomed over 1.14 million (1,147,567 to be precise) international tourists. Nepal wants to welcome more international tourists this year as the country is celebrating ‘Tourism Decade’.

Nepal’s 30 thousand guides are afoot to welcome foreigners in Nepal’s signature tourism categories of nature, culture and adventure.

For adventure, Nepal has around 23 thousands trekking guides and around one thousand porter guides, says the data compiled by Tourism Office Kathmandu.

In aquatic adventure, mainly rafting, kayaking and canoeing, Nepal has 511 registered river guides. For travelling in culture and other soft adventure tours, Nepal has 5,140 tour guides.

These include multilingual guides like Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, among others. ”I work as Russian guide. Besides guiding in Nepal, I also guide in Bhutan”, said Pramesh Shrestha.

Home to 10 UNESCO listed World Heritage Sites and climatic diversity from alpine Himalayas to the tropical plain Terai, Nepal is not just for spring and autumn.

It is for all season. ”If you want to visit Nepal, don’t think about seasons”, suggests Krishna Shah a tourism leader from East Nepal’s Koshi Province which is celebrating ‘Tourism Year’. ”Just think about the activities of the particular Nepali season and do visit Nepal,” adds Shah.