‘Still a lockdown’: Deadly floods hit Nepal tourism as peak season begins
As Himalayan nation recovers from devastating floods, a million people dependent on tourism struggle to make ends meet.
Kathmandu, Chitwan and Nuwakot, Nepal – Like every year, Pushpraj Rimal, a tour planner and taxi driver in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, was looking forward to September for his business to boom.
But what he got instead was a series of cancellations by tourists after catastrophic floods last month killed more than 1,450 people and destroyed key highways, deeply impacting the Himalayan nation heavily dependent on tourism.
“It is still a lockdown kind of situation,” the 42-year-old told Al Jazeera nearly a month after the disaster.
A traveller from Japan, who asked to remain anonymous, said the washed-out roads and bridges were the least of his concerns.