KATHMANDU, Feb 6: The Pokhara Metropolitan City has announced preparations for the Pokhara Visit Year 2025 with the target of attracting 2 million tourists.
Both domestic and international tourists are targeted, with plans to introduce various packages to the attraction of visitors to Pokhara.
Mayor of the metropolis, Dhan Raj Acharya, said that a special program will be held at the Pokhara Exhibition Center on February 15 to declare Pokhara Visit Year 2025. An executive committee has been formed under the coordination of Mayor Acharya to declare Pokhara Visit Year.
Mayor Acharya said that after discussions between the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the metropolis and the tourism sector, by the end of the year, it will be clear how many internal and external tourists will visit Pokhara. “Currently, there is no accurate data on how many tourists visit annually. We have the numbers of guests entering by air. However, there is no exact data on tourists arriving by land,” he added, “Teams have now been deployed at various entry points of Pokhara to record the number of visitors. While the airport keeps records for air travelers, efforts are now underway to maintain records for land travelers as well.”
Promotional initiatives underway to bring in one million foreig...
According to entrepreneurs, around 40 percent of the total foreign tourists visiting Nepal are expected to come to Pokhara. According to the latest data, nearly 1.15 million foreign visitors arrived in Nepal in 2024.
Apart from that, there is no data on the number of visitors who entered Nepal through various Nepal-India border points and then entered Pokhara by land. A significant number of Indian visitors enter Pokhara by land. Businessmen stated that there is no accurate data on these visitors and the number of domestic visitors has not been ascertained either.
He said that all three levels of government, the NTB and the private sector will work together to prepare different packages to increase the number of guests entering Pokhara. “The metropolis itself will also provide packages. Apart from that, businessmen will also prepare packages with discounts for tourists throughout the year,” he said.
According to estimates by businessmen, Pokhara currently receives around 1.4 million guests annually. All of them are domestic and foreign. According to Bharat Raj Parajuli, a central member of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), around 400,000 foreign guests arrive annually. “As around 40 percent of the guests entering Nepal come to Pokhara, we estimate that 400,000 foreign guests come to Pokhara. In addition, domestic tourists contribute around 30 percent to the yearly hotel occupancy in Pokhara,” he said. Additionally, with a significant number of Indian tourists visiting, it is estimated that a total of 1 million domestic and Indian tourists will visit Pokhara annually.
According to Parajuli, in order to increase the number of visitors to Pokhara, it is necessary to increase the connectivity of Pokhara to the border city. He mentioned that if easy access to the border city could be provided, it would be possible to bring in more Indian visitors than currently. He emphasized the need to expand both land and air services to ensure access to the border city.
Similarly, he said that international flights should be started immediately from Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA). So far, the airport is limited to domestic flights only. “If international flights can be operated from Pokhara to any city in India, then enough Indian guests can be brought in Pokhara. Similarly, flights should be started from Pokhara to major airports within the country. The inter-city air network should also be expanded,” Parajuli said, “If flights are operated from Pokhara to airports in all major cities of Nepal, it will be possible to bring visitors to Pokhara.”
In order to immediately bring guests into Pokhara, another important task is to improve the accessibility of the road to Pokhara. The expanding Prithvi Highway is still not complete, so access is not convenient. Therefore, in order to improve road access immediately, the highway expansion work should be completed as soon as possible, he said. Parajuli also stated that entrepreneurs in Pokhara have planned promotional programs to attract guests.
