BEYOND MOUNTAINS
O ne of Nepal’s best-kept secrets recently found its way into the global spotlight, and for all the right reasons. In July 2026, Shinta Mani Mustang was named the world’s best luxury hotel on Robb Report’s list of the 50 Greatest Luxury Hotels on Earth.
It was a moment worth celebrating, not just for the hotel but for Nepal’s entire tourism industry. But amid the applause, it’s worth asking a harder question: why do some Nepali products outshine global competitors while Nepal as a whole, struggles to shake off its reputation as a low-yield destination? Where Nepal Tourism Stands Today?
Nepal remains one of the lowest per-capita spending destinations in the region. Travellers here spend an average of around $33 a day, well below the regional average of $100 a night, and a steep drop from the $68 a day Nepal recorded back in 2015/16.
Since opening its doors to international visitors in 1955, Nepal has grown into a sought-after destination for adventure seekers and cultural travellers alike. Despite setbacks from the recent Gen Z movement and the ongoing
conflict in Iran, the country has shown real resilience, with international arrivals rebounding this year past 1.2 million. The hospitality sector has followed suit, with several new international luxury hotels in the pipeline. A recent visit by Marriott International’s chair, David Marriott, gave Nepal’s luxury hospitality ambitions a welcome boost of visibility, at a moment when global demand for high-yield travel experiences is only growing.
The Strategic Question: Volume or Value?
Globally, travel and tourism is an enormous business: the sector contributed roughly $11.6 trillion to the world economy in 2025, or 9.8% of global GDP, supporting 366 million jobs. Tourism has also been a major engine of new employment, and the World Travel & Tourism Council expects the sector’s contribution to climb to around $12 trillion in 2026.
But bringing in 1.2 million visitors who spend less than $35 a day isn’t going to make tourism an attractive employer here. That’s why the long-running debate between value and volume remains so relevant for Nepal’s policymakers and tourism operators alike. The real
challenge is striking a balance: attracting high-value travellers who spend more and stay longer, without simply chasing numbers.
Shinta Mani Mustang’s success offers a useful lesson. Its strategy has been to build what might be called a creative monopoly, offering a genuinely unique experience at the highest possible price point, with average room rates north of $1,800 a night and a mandatory minimum stay of five nights. Rather than compete on the industry’s terms, it set its own. It’s time for Nepal’s policymakers and industry leaders to move past the decades-old volume-versus-value debate and pursue a more pragmatic goal: not volume or value, but volume with high value.
Global Trends and the Future Traveller
The tourism sector is one of the fastest growing sectors across the globe. The motivation to travel is changing significantly. Tourism globally is shifting from “more tourists” to “more meaningful value,” from sightseeing to experience, from volume to value, from sustainable to regenerative, and from age-specific travel to something more inclusive and ageless.
A few trends stand out:
• Experience over sightseeing. Travellers increasingly want authentic, immersive encounters, not just a checklist of monuments and viewpoints, but genuine contact with local people, food, traditions, festivals and crafts. • Value over volume. Destinations are moving away from chasing visitor numbers toward attracting travellers who stay longer, spend more and contribute more to local communities. Overtourism in parts of Europe and Japan has made this urgent, pushing policymakers and local governments to protect the interests of residents alongside those of visitors. • Wellness and longevity tourism. Wellness is expanding well beyond spas, into mental wellbeing, yoga, meditation, nature and what’s increasingly being called ageless tourism. • Sustainable to regenerative tourism. The goal is shifting from minimising tourism’s negative impact to actively creating positive outcomes for communities, culture and nature. • Slow, soft adventure and longer- stay travel. Travellers want fewer destinations, more depth, and more time to actually connect with a place. Soft adventure – thrill without excessive risk, safety-conscious but still adventurous – is part of this shift. • Tourism for all. Accessible and inclusive tourism is becoming the norm, not the exception, serving people with disabilities, senior travellers, families and people of varying abilities. • AI and digital transformation. AI is reshaping how people discover, plan and book travel, and destinations are having to work at being AI- discoverable.
Nepal’s Big Opportunity: Wellness, Ageless and Barrierless Tourism
Wellness tourism is broadly defined as travel undertaken to maintain or enhance personal wellbeing, whether
The Nepal government has announced plans to promote the country as a wellness tourism destination, declaring 2027 Nepal Wellness Year, positioning the nation as a hub for spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing.
physical, mental or spiritual. It has grown into a significant global market segment, and Nepal with its cultural depth and natural landscapes is well placed to compete in it. The Nepal government has announced plans to promote the country as a wellness tourism destination, declaring 2027 Nepal Wellness Year, positioning the nation as a hub for spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing.
GWI reports that worldwide wellness tourism spending reached $894 billion in 2024 as wellness tourism trips made up 8.3% of international travel. The segment shows strong growth as wellness travellers spend higher than regular holidaymakers.
Ageless tourism speaks to a bigger demographic shift. The UN projects the global population aged 65 and above will rise from about 761 million in 2021 to 1.6 billion by 2050, by which point older people will make up roughly 17% of the world’s population. People aren’t just living longer; they want to stay active, curious, independent and socially connected for longer, too.
That shift matters for Nepal in a specific way. Nepalis living abroad are ageing as well, and a second- or third- generation Nepali in the UK, US or Australia may want to bring their own children back to visit ancestral villages, meet family, understand their history
and reconnect with food and culture they’ve only heard about. As this kind of “back to the roots” tourism becomes more mainstream, it’s likely to become a meaningful and growing segment for Nepal.
Barrierless tourism is the third piece. Nepal is generally seen as a destination for adventure seekers, but a number of travellers with disabilities who have visited have found it not just beautiful but genuinely welcoming, a reflection of the country’s growing commitment to inclusive tourism. Nepal inaugurated its first accessible trail, a 1.3-kilometre stretch from Kaskikot to Naudanda near Pokhara, on March 30, 2018, with another underway in Dhulikhel. The country now marks March 30 annually as National Accessible Tourism Day. There’s still a long way to go, but Nepal is learning, and taking real steps toward becoming a destination for everyone.
Taken together, these three areas point to what the country needs to prioritise: • Integrated branding and positioning of Nepal as a compelling destination. • A competent, trained workforce to support growing tourism demand. • Strategic investment in infrastructure and airports. • Incentives for the tourism sector that boost inward foreign exchange through tourism exports. • Formally declaring tourism a national industry.
Moving Towards the Future
Nepal’s tourism story shouldn’t be measured by how many people cross its borders. It should be measured by the value they create, the experiences they carry home, and the communities they support along the way. The next chapter for Nepal tourism needs to be about better travel, not just more of it.
Many hotels and resorts across Nepal are well placed to replicate what Shinta Mani Mustang has achieved. What it takes is a clear vision, much needed entrepreneurial nerve, and the willingness to compete on unique experiences rather than price.
