World view · economy
Travel & Tourism Development
पर्यटन विकास सूचकाङ्क
Nepal · 2024
3.30 / 7
Rank 105 of 119
Trajectory · 2013–2024
Travel & Tourism Development
World Economic Forum
Linear extrapolation of the last 5-year trend — illustrative only, not a forecast.
Solid — measured history
Dashed — if current trend continues
Green dotted — reform scenario (1.5× current pace)
Honest caveat: projections are linear extrapolation of the last 5 observed years. Real-world indices change non-linearly with policy shocks, elections, and external events. This tool answers "where would this go if nothing changes?" — it is not a forecast. For real change, see the "what would move this" panel below.
Why Nepal is here
Nepal has world-class natural and cultural assets (Everest, Lumbini, Kathmandu Valley World Heritage sites) but ranks 105 because infrastructure, air connectivity, openness, and business environment drag the composite score down. Air-quality and ground-transport sub-pillars score in the bottom 10 worldwide.
The short version
Nepal has 8 of the world's 14 highest mountains and Buddha's birthplace. People who come love it. But getting here is hard, hotels are uneven, and the air in cities is bad. That is why our tourism score is lower than it should be.
Inside the score
The headline number breaks down into these sub-scores — these are the levers.
Enabling environment
3.9/7
Macroeconomic stability OK; ICT readiness and health/hygiene drag
Travel & Tourism policy
4.2/7
Open visa policy a real strength; prioritisation of T&T sector strong on paper
Infrastructure
2.4/7
Worst pillar — ground-transport, air-route density and tourist-service infra in bottom-10
T&T demand drivers
3.4/7
World-class natural and cultural assets; brand power but uneven service quality
T&T sustainability
2.7/7
Solid-waste management at Everest base camps and air-quality damage Nepal's sustainability score
SAARC scoreboard
How Nepal compares to its neighbours on this index, latest year.
What would actually move this
Three concrete actions — each tied to where a comparable country actually moved on this metric.
- 1
Second international airport at Pokhara delivering on its tourism mandate (currently underused).
- 2
World-class digital visa-on-arrival (already exists; needs payment-rail upgrade).
- 3
Trekking-permit single-window: at present 3 separate offices are required for some routes.
Countries that moved — and how
Real reform episodes from countries roughly our size or context. Each shows that significant movement is possible within a decade.
Rwanda 🇷🇼
Rank 116 → 79 (2008 → 2024)
Visit Rwanda brand on Arsenal's sleeve, gorilla-permit revenue model, conservation-fee structure, US$1.5K visa for high-end safari.
Vietnam 🇻🇳
Rank 80 → 59 (2013 → 2024)
E-visa rollout, Phu Quoc visa-waiver experiment, low-cost-carrier expansion, infrastructure investment from 2017.
Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
Rank 43 → 41 (2019 → 2024)
Tourism e-visa from 2019, Vision 2030 mega-projects (NEOM, AlUla), entertainment-sector opening. (Caveat: rights record.)
Source · cited verbatim
World Economic Forum — Travel & Tourism Development, 2024
Open the publisher's releaseAll values on this page are taken directly from this source. Year and confidence level is shown on each card. If you find a discrepancy with the publisher's current dataset, please report it.