Domestic Tourism in Nepal: Issues and Challenges

Compared to international tourism, domestic tourism is less susceptible to external changes and provides a more stable business environment for industry stakeholders. Traditionally, the focus of a majority of tourism research has been international tourism. Existing domestic tourism literature predominantly focuses on the potential of domestic tourism and the measurement of its demands, but greatly ignores the issues and challenges in the domestic tourism industry. This article fills this gap and examines the issues and challenges the domestic tourism industry is facing with a focus on Nepal, a South Asian developing country. The data for this study were collected through semistructured interviews with 20 tourism industry practitioners. The findings of this study demonstrate how uncertainties created by the lack of institutional arrangements and prioritization, and confusion around the appropriate ways and means of managing domestic tourism have contributed to the chaos in the private sector tourism industry in Nepal. Implications for the government and other stakeholders in Nepal and other developing countries have been discussed.