Western tourists are shying away this Spring. Asians could be a saving grace

Nepal needs to build a tourism industry that is diversified, accessible and affordable.

For decades, the spring season (March to May) has been one of the two peak tourist seasons in Nepal, drawing in hundreds of thousands of tourists, some of whom seek to capitalise on the only time suitable for Everest ascent. This year, however, the hallways of star hotels have gone silent, and the trekking trails of the Himalayas have few tourists. All due to the externality of the conflict in West Asia. With tourist numbers crumbling, bookings tumbling and last-minute mass cancellations, the current havoc in Nepali tourism is a searing indictment of a strategy dangerously over-dependent on a single transit corridor.