Demand for community tourism rises as Nepal ushers in a new era

A new leader will soon take the stage in Nepal, signalling an optimistic era for politics and tourism development across the country. Balendra Shah, known as “Balen” is the leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and is on the brink of becoming Nepal’s youngest prime minister.

Balen was previously the mayor of the country’s capital, Kathmandu, and a former rapper on the NepHop music scene. Indicating in his party’s manifesto that tourism is an important agenda item, Balen and the RSP look set to achieve an historic victory with more seats voted in than any party in Nepal’s history.

As it releases its 2025 annual report, Community Homestay Network is welcoming the election of Balendra Shah — known as ‘Balen’ and is the leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – as prime minister of Nepal and his party’s ambitions for tourism.

The report examines the community tourism pioneer’s successes and the positive impact tourism has had for local people over the course of the past year, looking forward to future ambitions.

Key achievements since Community Homestay Network launched in 2018 include:

• 1,945 lives positively improved, an increase of 170 per cent.
• 865 women’s lives positively improved, an increase of 381 per cent.

Founder of Community Homestay Network, Shiva Dhakal, says the election result is encouraging, and he hopes for further investment in, and support of, responsible tourism in Nepal, such as the work being undertaken by his team as showcased in the report.

Dhakal observed: “Balen’s nurturing of culture and heritage, and focus on visitor experience as Mayor of Kathmandu, combined with his strong social impact stance as expressed through his career in music, strongly align with our mission and values at Community Homestay Network.”

Community Homestay’s Founder continued: “Our annual report is a timely demonstration of how community tourism empowers women, preserves culture, and spreads wealth to lesser-known parts of the country. This election result gives us hope that our trajectory of lifting up local people and inspiring them to become tourism entrepreneurs will continue.”

Dhakal said that: “The RSP’s manifesto is clear in its commitment to increasing visitor numbers, and improving aviation connectivity and tourism infrastructure. We look forward to a strengthened commitment to responsible community tourism, supported by conducive business environments and enabling policies. With the government leaning toward promoting rural tourism, such as the regions Community Homestay Network has been actively working to open up to the tourism supply chain, we see a positive outlook for creating job opportunities, safeguarding local culture, and boosting entrepreneurship at the rural level.”

And Dhakal observed: “It’s also exciting to see the RSP express its desire to strengthen Nepal’s cultural identity, particularly through gastronomy. Nepal has typically been marketed synonymously with mountains and hiking, which are obviously magnificent and important drivers of tourism, however there is so much more for travellers to see and do in terms of art, wellness, food, spiritually and culture.”

As outlined in the report, in 2025, Community Homestay Network advanced its community-led tourism model across rural, semi-urban, and urban Nepal, working with 51 communities, 408 households, and benefiting around 2,000 people through homestays and locally led experiences. The year brought notable recognition, including the Gender Equality Champion of the Year Award (Accommodation), ICRT awards for local sourcing and shared value, and founder Shiva Dhakal was the recipient of the PATA Nepal Trailblazer Award.

To access the full report, CLICK HERE  and for more on the Community Homestay Network, go to https://communityhomestay.com.