Nepal’s tourism landscape is showing signs of transformation in 2025, driven in large part by the expected opening of two new international airports – Pokhara International Airport (PIA) and Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Bhairahawa. This study analyses their real impact on the country’s tourism map by mid-2025, identifying both the successes achieved and the remaining challenges, and assessing which regions have unexpectedly gained momentum.

Key findings indicate that, despite ambitious plans, full international operation of the PIA and GBIA by mid-2025 remains limited. Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu, despite its own modernization challenges and temporary disruptions due to reconstruction, retains its dominant role as the country's main international air hub. The new airports have initiated some changes in accessibility to the Pokhara and Lumbini regions, but their impact is constrained by a number of factors, including the infrequency of international flights, high air travel costs, infrastructure constraints and geopolitical aspects such as the difficulty in obtaining new air corridors from India.