Tourism industry has hobbled in Nepal by Covid-19 pandemic in the last couple years. Kathmandu has fallen into silence as glimpsed on the streets of Thamel, which was one of the top touristic attraction in the capital. The stores have shuttered on the streets, where shopkeepers face harsh financial difficulty. The city was once full of charm and joy with its colorful streets, and now it has become a haunted city with locals trying to meet their needs. The thirty percent of businesses in the Thamel province have been permanently closed.
Krishna Lama, a shopkeeper, stated that the country has many problems and that businesses have hit rock bottom. “A large portion of the tradesmen left here, and they began to do different jobs,” she said. Another tradesman, Raju Paneru, stated that the situation of businesses prior to and after the pandemic cannot be compared, adding, “We are going through difficult times. Tourists do not visit either. We can no longer meet our daily expenses; everything has come to a halt. We’re going through a stressful period.”
With 150,000 tourists visiting Nepal in 2021, the country has received the lowest number of foreign visitors in the last 30 years. The government formed a committee to prepare plans to attract at least 500,000 tourists this year, as the expected number of visitors was not met in the same period.
Subash Shrestha