COVID update: Nepal reopens to climbers and trekkers who missed prior trips due to pandemic

***Note: Though things are starting to look hopeful for the Nepal travel industry, Trek Relief’s service programs are still temporarily suspended until further notice.***

For now the reopening will come with restrictions and mainly be limited to those seeking to to climb or trek its famous peaks. Foreign visitors are a major source of income for Nepal and the closure has impacted the estimated 800,000 people who work in the tourism industry.

“We are not opening the country for all visitors, only mountaineers and trekkers who have taken prior permit will be allowed to come to Nepal,” said Rudra Singh Tamang, director general of Nepal’s Department of Tourism. “We are opening to a sector of visitors who we know we can handle and manage.”

In addition to obtaining a visa on arrival, visitors now need to get prior approval, give details of their itinerary, hire a local outfitting company and have health insurance that covers COVID-19 treatment. They are required to take a coronavirus test before leaving their home country, stay for a week in quarantine at a hotel in Kathmandu and then take another coronavirus test before being allowed to go up the mountains.

Nepal has reported 176,500 coronavirus infections since the pandemic began and 984 deaths. The nation of 30 million people is running short on hospital beds and the government has asked patients with less than life-threatening symptoms to stay at home in isolation.