The recent cabinet meeting has decided to open trekking and mountaineering activities for both domestic and international tourists in Nepal as mentioned by Minister Pradip Gyawali, the spokesperson for the Nepal Government – the daily news reports.
Source:THT
Finally the tourism is likely to be resumed in Nepal from the mid October but is it really going to be worth it ? By tourism, we are only talking about trekking and mountaineering activities, many other tours might take some time to come into action. For now, all we know is trekking and mountaineering will be resumed from 17 October 2020 as decided by the government of Nepal. The mountaineering division has already permitted two groups for the expedition of two different mountains. Trekking might resume from the mid of October but the Covid-19 cases does not seem to be improving at all. So there are few things to understand before actually getting ready for the mountains.
There might be many around the world who have been waiting for tourism to resume in Nepal and can not wait to go for the trek but will they actually be at Nepal when the trekking finally resumes from the mid October? Just resuming the mountaineering activities and permitting for the trek will not generate the tourists as expected by the Nepal Government until and unless there is a massive improvement in the Covid-19 cases. Nepal might be ready for trekking but tourists might not be due to the covid-19 concerns. Having said that, there is still a month left for trekking to resume and government and the concerned authorities might be working hard to develop new plans to run these activities smoothly. There is no doubt that the trekking and mountaineering activities will take place by following all the safety and health protocols and other guidelines made by Nepal Government. Tourists with only PCR negatives will be permitted to enter Nepal and trek on the high mountains but the destinations are most likely to be limited due to the covid-19 concerns.
As far as tourism activities are concerned, trekking and mountaineering looks safer than other tourism activities as the mountains will not be as much crowded as other places and will most probably be permitted for a limited number of tourists to trek. With all the safety and health protocols, the trekking and mountaineering activities is likely to be safe but could not be guaranteed. You will be starting your journey from capital and you might need to travel through different places before you reach to the mountains.
Apart from that, different communities living around the mountain regions should be comfortable to welcome the tourists as well. While the places like Dolpo and Humla might be ready to welcome tourists with a PCR negative reports many other destinations might still take time to be ready for the tourism activities. In fact there are few other destinations which are still safe from the Covid-19 breakdown. Hopefully, the concerned authorities might be working on to make more destinations available for trekking and mountaineering activities and sort out everything possible to carry out these activities safely.
At the positive side, With the resumption of trekking from mid- October, Hotels and Travel agents along with different employees working in the tourism industry of Nepal are likely to be get back to work soon. This might contribute a little something to the nation’s economy and might also hold the tourism of the nation for the rest of the year. On top of that, the resumption of trekking and mountaineering might trigger other tourism activities in Nepal as well. As of now, tourists are still not permitted to Nepal but the travel ban might likely be lifted with the resumption of trekking and mountaineering as these activities will be opened for foreign nationals as well. So as far as the resumption of tourism in Nepal is concerned, the answer is Yes but no because tourist will only be permitted for trekking and mountaineering activities, there will not be any other tours apart from that.
With the resumption of different services and facilities along with the international airlines, hotels and restaurants, everything is slowly getting back to a normal state but not the Covid-19 situation in Nepal as the nation records around thousand new cases per day. So the decision to resume the trekking in Nepal from October might take a turn if the situation gets bad. However, the government has been working on to find an alternative to resume the tourism in Nepal for a while now and they might come up with new plans to make things happen.
Nepal is set to increase the number of international flights in coming days and as per the recent decision of the Government domestic airlines will be operated from 17 September along with the resumption of hotels and travel agents. There is still a month left for the resumption of trekking and mountaineering in Nepal and it seems there are several things to be sorted out before actually getting the gears ready for the mountains. So make sure that you are ready for traveling after the resumption of trekking in Nepal before you book your tickets.
Let me know your views and queries if you have any.
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