Kathmandu, 5th December: Thamel is known as an important destination for foreign tourists. However, most of the tourists who come to visit Nepal come here as soon as possible. Especially, there is a lot of tourist activity here during the tourist ‘season’ of October-November. The same thing happened this time too, but the traders and businessmen here said that this time, despite the enthusiastic presence of foreign tourists in Thamel, the economic activity has not increased.
According to the businessmen of Thamel area, although there are numerically more visitors in this season, the high-end tourists did not come. In other words, despite the large number of foreign tourists coming to the Thamel area during the main tourist season, the economic activity from them was not satisfactory compared to the past.
Navaraj Thapa, managing director of Sushmita Creation Enterprises in Thamel, says that the business is not good because there are no tourists this year compared to previous years. “The presence of tourists is visible, but there are no shopping tourists,” he said, who has been doing business here for nine years. Trekking shop has sporadic business, not much in others. Sometimes there is no business.”
In the streets and squares of Thamel, foreign tourists are seen in droves, perhaps they are looking to return home after visiting their destination. According to businessman Thapa, although citizens of India, China and Bangladesh buy large quantities of materials such as pashminas, European and American tourists buy quality, i.e. expensive goods. Recently, the pashmina business here is also in trouble due to the arrival of Chinese materials. “Tourists who used to prefer Nepali pashmina in the past do not show much interest in buying it now because of the abundance of fake goods. In Thamel alone, there are around 150 to 200 such shops, and there is no enthusiastic business”, said businessman Thapa.
It is said that there are more than 1,200 shops in Thamel. Due to financial problems, some businessmen have had to close their shutters. The business here, which has been hit hard by the Gorkha earthquake, has not yet recovered. Thapa, who used to earn Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000 daily before the earthquake, said that now he barely earns Rs 10,000 during the season.
Love Aryal, the owner of Comfort Moneychanger Pvt. Ltd., also says that the business is not encouraging even though the presence of foreigners is very visible during the tourist season. Autumn is considered to be the main season of tourism. At this time, a significant number of foreigners come to Nepal especially for trekking, mountain climbing and entertainment. Although Thamel is open 24 hours, the night business is not going well. Clubs, discos, dances and dohori in Thamel are open at night, but even liquor shops remain closed. Tea and a few cafes seem to be open here and there on the street.
According to Ajay Vindakar, who has been running Neva Coldstore in Thamel’s Satghumti for a long time, there is no business even though there are tourists this season. “This time there are people (foreign tourists) but business is not satisfactory. It may be due to the economic recession, there are no tourists to shop. There are only tourists who stay in hotels and spend money in restaurants”, he said. Prakashraj Giri, an employee of The Northfield Cafe in Thamel, also says that despite the tourist activity this season, the business of hotel restaurants is not good.
Bhabiswar Sharma, former chairman of Thamel Tourism Development Council, said that economic activity is not encouraging despite the arrival of tourists this season. “This time, many budget tourists came, spending tourists did not come. The number of tourists has also decreased”, he said, “This time the weather did not cooperate. Natural disasters including floods and landslides after the incessant rains on September 27th and 28th had a negative impact on the tourism sector.
In the past years, hotels in Thamel were full due to many tourists. Due to the same reason, the prices will also increase, said Sharma, a tourism businessman, and said that this has not happened this year. He said, “This year, the season did not cooperate, as there were no expensive tourists, there was no enthusiasm in the business of Thamel.” According to Sharma, there are about 12,000 business firms in Thamel. There are more people dealing in trekking and mountaineering materials.
According to Sajan Shakya, General Secretary of Hotel Association of Nepal, there was about 80 percent ‘occupancy’ in hotels in Thamel area this season. He says that this is satisfactory but business is not as encouraging as in the past. Currently, the main tourist season is about to end. Thamel’s tourist activity is also gradually decreasing. Foreign tourists are returning to their home country after trekking, mountain climbing and sightseeing.
According to the statistics of Nepal Tourism Board, 1 million 55 thousand 533 foreign tourists have visited Nepal in 11 months of 2024. In 2023, 1 million 14 thousand 778 foreign tourists came to Nepal.
