Thai Tourism Businesses Meet Nepali Embassy to Boost Tourism

Kathmandu. The Nepali Embassy in Thailand has held a special discussion with local tourism entrepreneurs there to address the decline in the number of Thai tourists in Nepal and to promote tourism. The discussion program, held last Friday, was attended by 18 tourism-related companies and organizations from Nepal and 63 from Thailand.

During the discussion, Nepal's Ambassador to Thailand, Dhan Bahadur Oli, stated that this discussion played a significant role in expanding direct business relations between the private sectors of both countries, identifying new partnership opportunities, and opening new doors for tourism promotion. He mentioned that tourism has played a bridging role in further strengthening the historical, religious, cultural, and people-to-people relations between Nepal and Thailand.

Ambassador Oli provided detailed information to Thai entrepreneurs about Nepal's diverse tourist destinations, Buddhist pilgrimage sites, Himalayan adventure tourism, and natural and cultural heritage. He also shed light on the various possibilities of visiting Nepal, especially Lumbini, Janakpur, heritage sites in the Kathmandu Valley, the Everest region, the Annapurna trekking route, wildlife tourism, yoga and wellness tourism, wedding tourism, film tourism, and mountain adventure activities.

At the program, Deputy Chief of Mission Motibahadur Shrees presented Nepal's tourist attractions and also presented official data on tourist exchange between Nepal and Thailand over the last 13 years. According to the data, the number of tourists from Thailand to Nepal has decreased recently.

Overall, although the total number of tourists visiting Nepal has increased, the number of Thai tourists visiting Nepal is very low compared to the total number of people traveling abroad from Thailand for tourism, Nepal's tourism potential, and the number of tourists who went to Nepal from Thailand 13 years ago.

According to the presented data, the number of tourists coming to Nepal from Thailand in 2013 was 40,969.

However, 13 years later, in 2025, only 30,243 Thai tourists have visited Nepal. Considering this decline as worrying, the embassy has put forward a plan to intensify collaboration with entrepreneurs to re-attract Thai tourists to Nepal and to bring Buddhists to Lumbini by utilizing the historical religious connection.