Tourism or Strategy? China's Geopolitical Play with 'Visit Nepal Year 2025'

In the sixteenth meeting [3] of the Nepal-China diplomatic consultation mechanism meeting, Chinese officials announced that they would celebrate the year 2025 as "Visit Nepal Year in China" [3]. This is the first time China will take such significant measures at the national level to facilitate the tourism industry of another nation.

The tourism sector is a means for Nepal to showcase its soft power to the world as also it is the backbone of Nepal's economy. The tourism sector contributes an average of 8% [4]to Nepal's GDP and supports about 1.19 million jobs [4]. In 2023 alone, Nepal earned 2.5 billion [5] dollars through the tourism sector, too, when China opened its border with Nepal for the first time in March 2023 after COVID-19.

Nepal is a scenic and culturally affluent state located in the lap of the Himalayas. Eight of the world's ten highest peaks are located here, whose average height is more than eight thousand meters. Much of Nepal is a biodiversity hotspot stretching from Sagarmatha National Park to Chitwan National Park, a UNESCO site famous for its flora and fauna. From a cultural point of view, Nepal is a meeting place for Hindu and Buddhist religions. The Hindu pilgrimage site Pashupatinath is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. It has also been called the world's largest Shiva temple. Along with this, Janakpur, a Treta Yuga city based on grand mythological stories, is the birthplace of Mata Sita, the life partner of Lord Ram. Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, is another important pilgrimage place. Every year, a large number of Buddhists from Tibet-China, India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar come here.

China is the second largest tourist source for Nepal after India. A large number of tourists from China come for trekking and to Lumbini, a Buddhist religious site. In 2014, Nepal and China signed an agreement [6] on the tourism sector. Later, the Nepali Foreign Ministry implemented a free-visa [7] system for Chinese citizens in 2016 to facilitate easy access for Chinese tourists to Nepal. Earlier, this system was limited to SAARC countries' nationals. Nepal got a clear benefit from its free-visa policy, whereas in 2015, only 64,675 Chinese [8]tourists visited Nepal, this figure broke all its records and reached 169,543 [9] in 2019. Note that in 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Nepal. He was the first Chinese President to visit Nepal after 1996. During his official visit, Xi wrote [10] an article in a Nepali newspaper saying, "Nepal is the first South Asian country to be designated an approved destination for Chinese tourists".

The surge in Chinese visitors to Nepal was a huge economic and psychological victory for Nepali policymakers. Nepal declared 2020 as the "Visit Nepal 2020 [11]" year and targeted to attract 2.5 million tourists. However, due to restrictions on international flights because of COVID-19 hurt the Nepali tourism industry. While a total of 1.197 million people visited Nepal in 2019, the figure was limited to only 0.23 million people the following year, and the same trend continued in 2021 and 2022.

Just after COVID-19, China took several steps to revive Nepal's tourism sector. China has opened several new flight routes to Tribhuvan, Pokhara and Gautam Buddha International Airports and has also sped up the renovation of the Nepal-China Friendship Highway [12] that connects the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, with the Chinese/Nepalese border at the Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge between Zhangmu and Kodari.

It would be worth reflecting on as to why China has declared 2025 as the ‘Visit Nepal Year in China’. Nepal is a comparatively small nation, and it is not even included among the top 10 destinations for Chinese tourists. Despite that, China taking such a big step for Nepal. It is well known that out of Nepal's three major international airports, two international airports, Pokhara International Airport and Gautam Buddha International Airport, were built a few years ago by the Chinese construction group. Both of them have become the centre of discussion regarding their viability. Because contrary to the expectations of Nepal and China, international flights have not started flying to these airports. Therefore, it is natural to raise the question that, through "Visit Nepal Year in China", China is trying to save these two airports from turning into White Elephants [13].

According to some reports [14], Chinese citizens can enter India through Nepal, where some of them might be used for intelligence purposes in order to spy and collect data relating to border areas. Further, India is apprehensive about the use of its airspace for international flights operating out of Pokhara International Airport in Nepal. Indian agencies believe that this international airport built by China could be used to collect data relating to Indian military bases and the trajectory of future missile tests.

Nepal should address India's security-related issues because even today, most tourists visiting Nepal are from India. For example, last year, only 60,878 [15] tourists from China visited Nepal, whereas 319.936 people from India visited Nepal. It is worth noting that Nepal takes into account only the passengers coming from India by air to be tourists. Nepal does not consider Indian passengers coming by road and rail as tourists under the immigration policy. Nepal needs to reconsider its immigration policy in this regard.

At present, Nepal and China have completed 70 years [16] of diplomatic relations. The depth of relations between the two countries has expanded as never before. According to the Chinese Embassy [17], the year 2025 will prove to be a milestone for the people-to-people ties between the two countries. Nepal plans to develop many tourist sites under the PPP model [18] in collaboration with China. On the other hand, China is providing free Mandarin language education in Nepalese schools. Confucius Centers [19] in Nepal are teaching the Mandarin language to Nepali tourist guides to make it more convenient for Chinese tourists to travel to Nepal.

Nepal-China is working fast on the Trans-Himalayan Rail Project [20] under BRI, which will enable faster travel between the two countries in future and if Nepal takes India into confidence and gets permission to use the airspace for Pokhara International Airport, then not only China but also other South Asian countries including India can start new international flights to Pokhara International Airport. Indeed, the Nepalese tourism sector is expected to benefit from this.

Based on the above point, it can be said that China declaring 2025 as "Visit Nepal Year in China" can prove very important for Nepal. Nepal needs to use the situation to develop an advanced infrastructure from the tourism point of view so that not only Chinese but also citizens of other countries are attracted. Nepal needs to focus more on the rapid development of the Buddha Circuit and the Ramayana Circuit. Nepal can also provide special discounts to Indian citizens regarding these two circuits. Through this, Nepal will not only be able to demonstrate its balanced foreign policy, but Nepal could also host the highest number of tourists ever in the year 2025 and include itself in the list of Asia's leading tourist destinations.

(The paper is the author’s individual scholastic articulation. The author certifies that the article/paper is original in content, unpublished and it has not been submitted for publication/web upload elsewhere, and that the facts and figures quoted are duly referenced, as needed, and are believed to be correct). (The paper does not necessarily represent the organisational stance... More >>

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