Sustainability has become a ubiquitous word for almost every plan. When it comes to designing tourism policy in Nepal, careful thought and planning in conjunction with public, private, civil society, indigenous and marginalised stakeholders are required to ensure that what is developed benefits all, is truly sustainable and is not greenwashed.

Tourism makes up six to eight percent of Nepal’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Upon closer examination, estimates from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) suggest that over 65 percent of tourism-related income comes from domestic tourism, with people travelling for corporate retreats, on pilgrimage, holiday trekking and weekend getaways to places like Pokhara and Chitwan. The remaining 35 percent of income comes from international visitors arriving for mountaineering, trekking and cultural tourism. Domestic tourists are, therefore, just as valuable. Moving forward, we must concentrate on developing thoughtful tourism experiences and improving quality, always keeping in mind the direct and indirect impact on all involved.

Some crucial learnings from the Next 50 Dialogues that I designed and ran at UNESCO have stayed with me. The 20 dialogues were held in and around Nepal’s four natural and cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites (WHS) of Sagarmatha and Chitwan National Parks, the Kathmandu Valley and Lumbini, all major centres for tourism. These conversations revolved around the future of these WHS, imagining the next 50 years. Stakeholders, particularly those indigenous to the region, were seriously concerned that no elements of natural or cultural heritage were incorporated into local school curricula, leading to youth becoming increasingly disconnected from their roots.

These participants also noted a disquieting lack of integration of local and indigenous culture and creative products into the tourism sector. The linkages of food, craft and music to the tourism market were superficial at best, benefiting only a few. No income from tourism is trickling to the grassroots and local levels, thus resulting in outward migration. Nepal is missing a major social and economic opportunity by not supporting, developing and underscoring its cultural products.

Soon, there will be dozens of international hotels across Nepal, in addition to those already operating. While these brands come with a measure of uniformity, they also stick to standards of service and sustainability, appealing to a broad spectrum of tourists seeking something they recognise and trust.

Additionally, domestic tourists are increasingly inclined towards staycations at these properties, thanks to their branding. As we cater to the comfort of these tourists, while also benefiting from the employment and training that comes with such huge projects, we must also diversify, so that people who need budget options, or are inclined towards more nuanced and curated stays, also have choices, whether as homestays or niche, high-end properties.

Any property that opens in Nepal must be regulated to ensure its operation within environmental standards, with attention to how these structures affect their surroundings, process waste and with the provision that they employ a certain percentage of locals, in addition to using local products.

With government policies supporting producers in Nepal and linkages to marketplaces, many tourism-related properties could be close to fully locally staffed and stocked. This creates an enormous opportunity for employment, income for suppliers, as well as a more vertically integrated, authentic experience for both domestic and international travellers, not to mention helping our Balance of Trade (BoT).

A hotel in the mountains should focus on building with local raw materials, such as ethically sourced rammed earth or stone. The government must support this use of local materials with subsidies or tax breaks. With cultural mapping of the area and local sourcing, food items, textiles, artworks and human resources can all come from local communities.

For the latter, proper training options can be provided through government-funded Community Learning Centres (CLCs), many of which already exist across Nepal. Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) between the privately run hotels and the CLCs can also be developed for training purposes.

This is, of course, easier said than done. It requires much less work for hotels to simply pick out everything from bathroom tiles to carpets and furniture from an India or China-based catalogue or hire from outside. It takes initiative, ideas, time, money and most importantly, the will to source locally. However, the payoff is immense. Each of us can imagine a hotel or homestay thoughtfully made with products from Nepal. It would be beautiful, sustainable and ecological, and it would resonate with meaning.

In this time of climate change, everyone needs to think of their carbon footprint. Nepal must develop itself as a carbon-negative tourism destination. Imagine a hotel property built with climate-friendly, energy-saving and vernacular architecture, made with ecological materials and with Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) certification, to the extent that tourists can write off their carbon footprint by staying there. This is what we should be aiming for—sustainable tourism and sustainable development.

Bhutan is constantly quoted as a model for tourism. Nepal is not Bhutan, nor should it try to be. With a much deeper and more varied culture, Nepal is a repeat destination. For Bhutan, once is quite enough. In their deeply unethical reach for homogeneity (One Nation, One People), Bhutan expelled a sixth of their population in the late 80s and early 90s, snatching away the citizenship of over 100,000 Lhotshampas (people of Nepali origin), all the while spinning itself into Western consciousness as a place of Gross National Happiness. With this move, they ploughed themselves into a dead end of banal, sanitised tourism for only those who can afford it.

Nepal, with its varied geography and ethnic diversity, offers multiple choices. With care and good planning, we can expand our tourism options to create properly researched, neither perfunctory nor faddish, wellness tourism destinations. Spiritual tourism can complement religious circuits, along with a more profound cultural tourism model that doesn’t just involve superficial costume play and stock song and dance routines. Both domestic and international travellers recognise and value authenticity.

Our varied food, music, literature and craft traditions, not to mention vernacular architecture, are our strengths, all currently ignored or wielded superficially. Nepalis will choose to go to Dolpo, Janakpur or Taplejung instead of repeat trips to Bangkok if they believe they can stay comfortably and experience a slice of their own local culture.

Regionally and globally, people will be drawn by the idea that they are coming to a country that has worked hard to neutralise the traveller’s carbon footprint. Nepal could provide a profound cultural experience that most tourists would struggle to get elsewhere, in a world where extractive over-tourism is becoming untenable.