Nepal welcomes return of Chinese tourists

Nepal is ready to attract more Chinese travelers after three years of pandemic, its embassy in Beijing said in a tourism promotion activity held on Wednesday.

A group of 180 Chinese tourists arrived in Nepal last Thursday, the first to arrive after the COVID-19 pandemic. They were welcomed at the Tribhuvan International Airport by the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song, the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati, and the CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board Dhananjay Regmi.

"It is a great pleasure to see the return of Chinese tourists, as China now is one of the world's largest outbound tourist generating countries," said Bishnu Pukar Shrestha, ambassador of Nepal to China.

"We must explore and develop our market as a preferred destination for Chinese tourists," Shrestha said.

Currently, China is the second-largest tourist source market of Nepal, a country endowed with enormous tourism resource potential to attract travelers from China and other parts of the world.

The number of Chinese visitors to Nepal reached 169,543 in 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has hit hard on the tourism industry of both countries and dragged that number to less than 4,000 in 2022.

In recent years, Nepal has been accelerating the infrastructure construction and dedicated to talent training to provide better services to Chinese tourists, according to officials from the Nepal Tourism Board.

"Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and with the help of China, we now have two newly built international airports in Nepal, namely the Gautam Buddha International Airport and the Pokhara Regional International Airport, which will offer more convenience for travelers from China," said Yubika Bhandari, secretary of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents.

"We are committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders to develop a comprehensive tourism program that reflects the unique spirit of Nepal and strengthens the relationship between our two countries," Bhandari said.