{"id":68838,"date":"2026-07-15T11:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T03:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=68838"},"modified":"2026-07-15T11:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T03:34:09","slug":"why-scrapping-nepals-dollar-fare-could-leave-locals-grounded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=68838","title":{"rendered":"Why scrapping Nepal\u2019s \u2018dollar fare\u2019 could leave locals grounded"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">A plan to make <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Nepal<\/span>\u2019s domestic flights cheaper for foreign visitors could end up making them more expensive for citizens, according to airline operators who warn against scrapping one of the country\u2019s most contentious tourism pricing policies.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Under Nepal\u2019s two-tier airfare system, foreign passengers must pay in US dollars for domestic flights, with prices usually two to three times higher than for Nepalis and sometimes more, depending on the route and season.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In April, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Khadak Raj Paudel pledged to end the sky-high airfares to boost tourism and provide respite to non-resident Nepalis holding foreign citizenship who are also required to pay higher fares.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">He told the Kantipur newspaper that plans to scrap the \u201cdollar fare\u201d would initially start with flights to the far-western Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces \u2013 home to lesser-visited attractions such as Rara and Shey Phoksundo lakes and Khaptad National Park \u2013 before being rolled out nationally.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The plan stalled due to the fuel crisis linked to the Iran-US conflict and the tourism ministry said there were no ongoing discussions on the issue.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1qeofuq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-bjn8wh e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Nepal Airlines, the country\u2019s flagship carrier, introduced the dollar fare in the 1970s. Photo: Shutterstock\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/07\/14\/663533a6-3f00-44ef-a8f0-a927767aa01c_f277bc88.jpg\" title=\"Nepal Airlines, the country\u2019s flagship carrier, introduced the dollar fare in the 1970s. Photo: Shutterstock\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">Nepal Airlines, the country\u2019s flagship carrier, introduced the dollar fare in the 1970s. Photo: Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The proposal has since reignited a debate over its feasibility, with tourism stakeholders saying the repercussions could extend far beyond the aviation sector.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/week-asia\/economics\/article\/3360562\/why-scrapping-nepals-dollar-fare-could-leave-locals-grounded?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A plan to make Nepal\u2019s domestic flights cheaper for foreign visitors could end up making them more expensive for citizens, according to airline operators who&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4840],"tags":[9951,4066,11716,727,2037,16038,26525],"class_list":["post-68838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-globetrotting","tag-dollar","tag-fare","tag-grounded","tag-leave","tag-locals","tag-nepals","tag-scrapping","wpcat-4840-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}