The Sad End of Visit Nepal 2020

This was the year that Nepal aimed to double the number of foreign tourists, targetting 2 million. On 1st March this promotional campaign was sadly 'deferred' due to the coronavirus epidemic.

On 9th March the Department of Immigration issued the following urgent notice to suspend the issuance of visas on arrival in Nepal, to citizens of 8 affected countries.

Today visas-on-arrival have been suspended for all foreign nationals with stringent quarantine and medical certificate requirements for those applying for visas in their own country and wishing still to travel. Please see attached informtion or click here:https://kathmandupost.com/…/nepal-government-puts-all-touri…

While Nepal is not currently a COVID-19 hotspot, it is clear that the global pandemic now declared by the WHO is going to have a devastating effect on tourism worldwide including Nepal. The Spring season is effectively wiped out. For those involved in tourism, its a terrible blow to livelihoods.

As someone who loves travel its clear that we must accept travel restrictions to protect us all and especially countries like Nepal where their health systems are unlikely to cope as well as in the West or China. Lets hope the world gets through this major crisis and that we can travel freely again before too long.