The Nepal Tourism Board has formally announced the celebration of the 'Nepal-ASEAN Tourism Year 2026' on the occasion of its 27th establishment day on Wednesday.

A special strategy targeting 2026 has been unveiled, focusing on ASEAN countries as a high-potential tourism market.

ASEAN is an organization of 10 countries in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

At the inaugural ceremony, Deepak Raj Joshi, Chief Executive Officer of the Board, presented the ASEAN region as a long-term and strategic tourism market. According to him, more than 170,000 tourists from ASEAN countries have visited Nepal so far, which confirms the great potential of the region.

‘Nepal’s strong identity will be established in the ASEAN market through Buddhist and spiritual tourism, nature and adventure travel, wellness and Ayurveda, culture and community-based tourism,’ said CEO Joshi.

CEO Joshi said that 1.16 million tourists are expected to enter Nepal in 2025, an increase of about three percent compared to the previous year. According to him, 31 tourism marts, 12 branding and corporate activities and more than 20 MICE programs have been completed by 2025.

Similarly, in the period after the Gen-G movement, promotion through live broadcasts from eight major tourist destinations, publication of travel information in nine languages, 69 tourism infrastructure development works, and 41 programs and development activities from the east to the far west have been conducted, he also informed.

‘Tourism is not just a core sector but a multi-dimensional cross-sector sector,’ Joshi said. Stating that vocational training was provided to more than 2,600 manpower from various sectors in 2025, he said that work is being done on identifying potential, enhancing quality, creating employment and expanding the market under the Sustainable Tourism Project in the three major trekking trails of Kanchenjunga, Manaslu and Api-Saipal.

NTB has made public seven major travel trends that will define the year 2026. These include seeking peace over noise, using Gen-AI in governance, trust-based decision-making over choice, prioritizing road travel over air travel, highly personalized experiences, the appeal of untested off-grid destinations, and a tendency to put culture at the center.

Presenting the upcoming roadmap, CEO Joshi clarified that the 2026-2035 strategic action plan will include a participatory approach, digital-inspired professionalism, coordination of innovative policies and practices, combining local and global experiences, cutting unproductive programs, and focusing on high-value tourism.

A video message was presented on behalf of PATA CEO Noor Ahmed Hamid, World Tourism Network, and UN Tourism at the event. In addition, the annual publication of the Nepal Tourism Board, ‘In-Focus’, was also released on the occasion.