Tourism Entrepreneurship in Nepal: Opportunities and Challenges

This chapter explores the opportunities and challenges of tourism entrepreneurship in Nepal. This is achieved by employing a qualitative methodological approach by interviewing Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs who are at the forefront of various tourism-linked organisations. Some have served as members of the National Tourism Board of Nepal. The received data were analysed using a thematic approach. With illustrations from the views of tourism entrepreneurs and tourism officials, this paper notes that Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs are optimistic about their opportunities to run a successful business. The Nepalese tourism industry, however, has encountered challenges due to the lack of adequate infrastructure for its sustainable growth, such as a lack of sufficient connectivity for aviation, a poorly managed ground transportation system, and poor-quality road networks. Similarly, technological backwardness, absence of effective tourism marketing strategies, recruitment and retention of skilled human resources, and unethical industry practices are other major challenges faced by Nepalese tourism businesses. Should these issues be addressed, Nepal has enormous potential to become a successful and competent destination in the post-COVID global tourism market and the growth of tourism entrepreneurship can contribute to Nepal’s socioeconomic development.