Tired of city life, Guangzhou resident Chu Yu has set her sights on Nepal’s peaceful mountains for her next adventure.
“After Covid, we need some connection with nature,” says Chu, 29, referring to the growing trend of young Chinese hiking and trekking at home and abroad. “Nepal is a budget-friendly destination and the culture there is really vibrant.”
Visitors like Chu are likely to add to the anticipated influx of Chinese tourists to Nepal in 2025 amid the Chinese government’s tourism promotion campaign – Visit Nepal Year in China – that was announced during a high-level diplomatic meeting between the two countries in June.
While political analysts view the initiative as China’s soft power push to help Nepal achieve its goal of welcoming 2 million tourists next year, travel entrepreneurs see an occasion to bolster Nepal’s tourism industry, which contributed 6.6 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product in 2023.
“This is a huge opportunity for us,” says Bidur Prasad Khatiwada, chairman of the China Tour Promotion Committee of the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents. “It could massively benefit our tourism industry.”
Over the past decade, China has become a major tourist source for the Himalayan nation known for its trekking trails in the foothills of the Everest and Annapurna mountain ranges.
Chinese tourists became the second-largest group by nationality arriving in Nepal in 2019 and ranked third after India and the US in 2023, accounting for nearly 6 per cent of the 1 million international visitors, according to official data.
About 83,000 Chinese tourists visited Nepal between January and October this year, some 35,000 more than the same period in 2023.
While the Chinese government granted an “approved destination status” to Nepal in 2001, allowing its citizens to travel there, it was not until a decade later that Chinese visitors started arriving in crowds.
In 2013, the Chinese romance film Up in the Wind introduced Nepal to many youngsters, with tourists following the shooting locations in the picturesque town of Pokhara, culturally-rich Kathmandu and wildlife sanctuaries in Chitwan. The 2016 Marvel superhero movie Doctor Strange and the 2023 Chinese drama Chase After You, both shot in Nepal, further enhanced the allure of the country that many consider mystical.
But despite the charm, travel operators and analysts say Nepal has been unable to reap the benefits of Chinese tourism, with minimal plans to promote the country for China’s Visit Nepal campaign.
“China has shown interest in sending more and more of its citizens to Nepal, but the Nepali side has not been able to provide the same level of enthusiasm,” Khatiwada says. “There is a lack of strategy to promote ourselves and attract more Chinese visitors.”
Written by SCMP
