Nepal recorded a total of 230,000 tourists in 2020, ranking 154th in the world in absolute terms.
Without including the size of a country, such a ranking list may not be very meaningful. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Nepal, the result is much more comparable picture: With 0.0077 tourists per resident, Nepal ranked 189th in the world. In South Asia, it ranked 6th.
In 2020, Nepal generated around 238.00 million US dollars in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 0.66 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 1 percent of all international tourism receipts in South Asia.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2020 spent about 983 US dollars.
Development of the tourism sector in Nepal from 1995 to 2020
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Nepal each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g., crew members of ships or flights are also not considered tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.
The red line represents the average of all 8 countries in South Asia.
Revenues from tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 232.00 million USD, or about 5.3 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 363,000 tourists at that time and roughly 639 USD per person. Within 25 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased substantially. Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were $801.00 million billion, 2.3 percent of gross national product. Thus, each visitor spent an average of $669 on their vacation in Nepal.
In 2020, tourist receipts plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the $801.00 million billion (2019), only $238.00 million billion remained. This is a 70 percent decrease in Nepal.
All data for Nepal in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2020
230,000
238.00 m $
0.71 %
1,035 $
2019
1.20 m
801.00 m $
2.3 %
669 $
2018
1.17 m
740.00 m $
2.2 %
631 $
2017
940,000
712.00 m $
2.5 %
757 $
2016
753,000
498.00 m $
2.0 %
661 $
2015
539,000
509.00 m $
2.1 %
944 $
2014
790,000
511.00 m $
2.2 %
647 $
2013
798,000
460.00 m $
2.1 %
576 $
2012
803,000
379.00 m $
1.7 %
472 $
2011
736,000
415.00 m $
1.9 %
564 $
2010
603,000
378.00 m $
2.4 %
627 $
2009
510,000
439.00 m $
3.4 %
861 $
2008
500,000
353.00 m $
2.8 %
706 $
2007
527,000
234.00 m $
2.3 %
444 $
2006
384,000
157.00 m $
1.7 %
409 $
2005
375,000
160.00 m $
2.0 %
427 $
2004
385,000
260.00 m $
3.6 %
675 $
2003
338,000
232.00 m $
3.7 %
686 $
2002
275,000
134.00 m $
2.2 %
487 $
2001
361,000
191.00 m $
3.2 %
529 $
2000
464,000
219.00 m $
4.0 %
472 $
1999
492,000
229.00 m $
4.5 %
465 $
1998
464,000
248.00 m $
5.1 %
534 $
1997
422,000
201.00 m $
4.1 %
476 $
1996
394,000
237.00 m $
5.2 %
602 $
1995
363,000
232.00 m $
5.3 %
639 $
Our data on tourist numbers, revenues and expenditures are based on information from the World Tourism Organization. However, to ensure international comparability, the data for some years or countries were manually researched and corrected if they obviously included visitors without overnight stays. In these cases, the data were taken from the official communications of the respective national tourism authorities.
The World Tourism Organization additionally points out that in some countries, the number of tourists is only counted at airports, while in others they are also counted at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.
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