Entrepreneur Suman Pandey, who brings 63 lakh tourists to Nepal<\/p>\n
Long-term strategy needed to bring in 63 lakh tourists: Suman Pandey<\/p>\n
Kathmandu Tourism entrepreneur Suman Pandey said that Nepal’s tourism sector was grappling with challenges like overinvestment, shrinking business and lack of skilled human resources. In an exclusive conversation with Nepal News Bank, Minister Bhattarai said that special attention should be given to market analysis, quality service quality and human capital development along with policy reforms for sustainable development of tourism sector. <\/p>\n
According to Pandey, Nepal’s tourism service is considered to be one of the best in Asia.<\/p>\n
Although Nepal’s hospitality and service have made a positive identity in the international tourism market, business pressure has increased due to excessive investment in the hotel and restaurant sector in recent period. <\/p>\n
He said that the imbalance between the excessive investment in tourism infrastructure and the arrival of real tourists has started to have a negative impact on the service sector.<\/p>\n
“Nepal’s service level is considered good in the international market. But when more hotels and restaurants opened than needed, the business was divided. As the business is decreasing due to the economic slowdown, the quality of service is also compromised,” he said. <\/p>\n
According to Pandey, at least <\/p>\n
60 to 80 percent occupancy is required to make a hotel operational throughout the year.\u00a0He said that if this level is not maintained, the hotel business will suffer losses which will affect the banking system and employment. When the business goes into loss, the employees do not get their salaries on time, the hotel cannot repay the bank loan. Businessmen are being blacklisted. It will also affect the banking sector,” he said. <\/p>\n
He suggested that the market demand, the number of potential tourists and the business feasibility should be studied before approving new investment in the tourism sector.<\/p>\n
“Either we have to increase business or stop over-investing. There is a need for a system of giving permission only after analysing the actual demand of the market before investing,” he said. <\/p>\n
Pandey warned that the biggest challenge facing the tourism sector in the coming decade would be the shortage of skilled manpower.<\/p>\n
Terming the human resources working in the tourism industry as ‘human capital’, he said long-term planning should be started from now itself. <\/p>\n
According to him, various international studies have shown that by 2035, there will be a shortage of about 43 million people in the global tourism sector.<\/p>\n
Of these, China alone will face a shortage of 17.5 million, India 11.5 million and Europe about 6.5 million. “The global tourism industry is heading towards a manpower crisis. Nepal will not be untouched by it,” he said. <\/p>\n
Pandey said that there is a shortage of skilled manpower in the hotel, restaurant and hospitality industry in Nepal.<\/p>\n
Stating that the number of trained human resources abroad is increasing, he opined that this should be taken as both an opportunity as well as a challenge. <\/p>\n
Tourism education <\/p>\n
He also proposed that tourism education should be started from the school level. He argues that if tourism subjects can be taught from grade 8, students can be given professional knowledge about the hospitality industry at an early stage. <\/p>\n
Tourism education should be started from grade 8 by combining some parts of history, geography and sociology. After passing class 12, students can become manpower with practical skills like a bachelor’s degree in hotel management,” he said. <\/p>\n
He believes that this will increase the competitiveness of Nepali youths not only in Nepal but also in the international labor market.<\/p>\n
According to him, the skills, experience and capital earned by working abroad will eventually return to Nepal, which will provide long-term economic benefits. <\/p>\n
‘Our economy is based on remittances. If the youth can be given international level tourism education and skills, they can earn good income in the world market. Later, they can return to Nepal and invest and do business,” he said. Pandey said that the growing interest of universities and colleges in tourism education is a positive sign and said that collaboration between the government, private sector and educational institutions is necessary to prepare tourism manpower strategy up to 2040. <\/p>\n
According to him, Nepal can achieve the target of bringing in 6.3 million foreign tourists by 2040 if policy reforms, use of digital technology, diversification of tourism production, infrastructure expansion, international market promotion and skilled human resource development are integrated.<\/p>\n
‘Continuous dialogue and collaboration between the government, private sector and experts is necessary for the revival of the tourism sector. Tourism development is a continuous process in which new ideas and reforms should be added,” he said. <\/p>\n
Stating that the private sector was also ready to provide necessary suggestions and support to the state for the transformation of the tourism sector, Pandey expressed the belief that tourism could become one of the major basis of economic prosperity of Nepal. Stating that business expansion is the main basis for improving the quality of service, Pandey stressed the need for comprehensive policy reform to increase the number of tourists.<\/p>\n
According to him, Nepal is missing out on a big opportunity due to outdated policies, complicated visa system, provisions related to restricted areas and failure to address the new tourism trends. <\/p>\n
According to him, for a long time, there was a tendency to link tourism in Nepal with security risks and smuggling.<\/p>\n
This did not lead to the development of tourism-friendly policies. “The state should move ahead to make maximum use of the positive aspects by controlling the negative aspects of tourism,” he said. <\/p>\n
He stressed the need to modernize and digitize Nepal’s visa system.<\/p>\n
“Even now the foreign tourists have to fill up long forms, stand in queue at the airport and have to fulfill complicated process,” he said, adding that it would send a negative message about Nepal. <\/p>\n
He suggested implementing a digital visa system as per international practice. “Tourists should fill in their details through mobile app, upload information by scanning the QR code of their passport, make online payment and make arrangements to come to Nepal with digital visa,” he said. Such system will not only increase convenience for passengers but also help in building Nepal’s modern image. <\/p>\n
According to Pandey, it is not timely to keep Humla, Simikot, Mustang, Manaslu and other areas as restricted areas.<\/p>\n
He was of the view that most of the parts of Nepal should be opened for foreign tourists. “New destinations could be developed if the entire Nepali region could be made tourist-friendly,” he said. <\/p>\n
He said that Nepal should take the concept of ‘Digital Nomad’ as an opportunity, which is becoming popular across the world in recent times.<\/p>\n
Stating that the trend of many professionals working in different countries with laptops has increased, he suggested that special visa should be arranged for such people. <\/p>\n
‘Thailand, Indonesia and other countries have introduced policies targeting Digital Nomad. Nepal should also give them special visas to provide them with long-term residency and work facilities,” he said. <\/p>\n
He also mentioned the possibility of ‘work’ tourism. According to him, experienced doctors, engineers, technicians and experts from abroad can come to Nepal and volunteer for some time, train local human resources or create an environment for knowledge sharing. <\/p>\n
“If the experts from abroad are given multi-entry visa for a few years and they can come to Nepal from time to time, then along with tourism, there will be opportunities for knowledge and skill transfer,” he said. <\/p>\n
Pandey said that ‘business tourism’ which is growing rapidly across the globe is another possibility of Nepal.<\/p>\n
Giving the example of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), he stressed the need to provide conducive environment for foreigners to register a company in Nepal, acquire banking services and conduct international trade. <\/p>\n
‘Nepal’s climate, natural environment, and geographical conditions can attract foreign entrepreneurs. If an environment is created to do business all over the world by registering a company here, foreigners frequently come to Nepal for business reasons,” he said. <\/p>\n
He also <\/p>\n
said that ‘residential tourism’ should also be given importance. According to him, long-term foreign settlement in Nepal could increase if a policy was brought to allow foreign nationals to buy flats or residential properties in a systematic manner. <\/p>\n
“Many retirees in Europe and the United States take monthly pensions and live in other countries. If they come and settle in Nepal, their expenses will directly flow to the Nepali economy,” he said \u0964 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Entrepreneur Suman Pandey, who brings 63 lakh tourists to Nepal Long-term strategy needed to bring in 63 lakh tourists: Suman Pandey Kathmandu Tourism entrepreneur Suman Pandey said that Nepal’s tourism sector was grappling with challenges like overinvestment, shrinking business and lack of skilled human resources. In an exclusive conversation with Nepal News Bank, Minister BhattaraiContinue reading “Entrepreneur Suman Pandey’s ‘Vision’ to bring in 63 lakhs in Nepal by 2040”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":85321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-samachar-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/web-post_cfd8366e.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85339,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85338\/revisions\/85339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/85321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}