Visit Pokhara 2025: Pokhara has set a high target to welcome two million visitors

With the goal of drawing two million visitors, the Pokhara Metropolitan City has launched plans for the Pokhara Visit Year 2025.

Plans are in place to provide a number of packages to draw tourists to Pokhara, including both domestic and foreign travelers.

Dhan Raj Acharya, the city’s mayor, said that the Pokhara Exhibition Center will host a special event on February 15 to announce Pokhara Visit Year 2025. Under Mayor Acharya’s direction, an executive committee has been established to announce Pokhara Visit Year.

By the end of the year, it will be evident how many domestic and foreign visitors will visit Pokhara, according to Mayor Acharya, following talks between the city, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), and the tourism industry. As of right now, there is no reliable information on the number of tourists that come here each year. We know how many visitors are coming in via air. He continued, “There is currently no exact statistics on tourists entering by land, despite teams being stationed at Pokhara’s different entry points to count the number of visitors.” Although the airport maintains data for air travelers, work is currently being done to keep information for ground travelers as well.

Around 40% of all international visitors to Nepal are anticipated to arrive in Pokhara, according to business owners. Nearly 1.15 million foreign visitors arrived in Nepal in 2024, according to the most recent figures.

In addition, no information is available regarding the number of tourists who crossed the Nepal-India border and proceeded to Pokhara on foot. A sizable portion of Indian tourists go by land to Pokhara. According to businessmen, the number of domestic visitors has not been determined, and there is no reliable data on these tourists.

According to him, the NTB, the commercial sector, and the three tiers of government would collaborate to create various packages that will draw more tourists to Pokhara. Additionally, packages will be offered by the city itself. In addition, entrepreneurs will create discounted travel packages for travelers all year long,” he stated.

Businessmen estimate that Pokhara currently hosts about 1.4 million visitors a year. They are all both international and domestic. Approximately 400,000 foreign visitors arrive each year, according to Bharat Raj Parajuli, a key member of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN). We anticipate that 400,000 foreign visitors arrive in Pokhara, as approximately 40% of all visitors to Nepal do so. Additionally, domestic travelers account for about 30% of Pokhara’s annual hotel occupancy, he said. Furthermore, it is anticipated that 1 million domestic and Indian tourists will travel to Pokhara each year, with a sizable portion of those visitors being Indian.

Parajuli stressed the need to expand both land and air services to ensure access to the border city, saying that increased connectivity between Pokhara and the city would be necessary to increase the number of visitors to Pokhara. He said that more Indian visitors than currently visit Pokhara could be brought in if easy access to the border city could be provided.

In a similar vein, he stated that Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) should begin operating international flights right away. The airport is currently only used for domestic flights. “Enough Indian visitors can be brought to Pokhara if international flights are offered from Pokhara to any Indian city. Likewise, flights to the nation’s main airports must to begin from Pokhara. According to Parajuli, “It will be feasible to send tourists to Pokhara if flights are offered from Pokhara to airports in all of Nepal’s major cities.” He also suggested expanding the inter-city air network.

Another crucial objective is to make the route to Pokhara more accessible so that visitors may arrive there right away. Access is inconvenient because the Prithvi Highway is still under construction. Therefore, he said, the highway extension construction should be finished as quickly as possible in order to increase road access right away. Additionally, Parajuli said Pokharan business owners have prepared marketing campaigns to draw tourists.