Until a decade ago Nepali students had no choice of joining government owned Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management to study hospitality management if they wished to study within the country. Hundreds of students competed to secure their seats for 160 positions in Bachelor’s in Hotel Management and Bachelor’s in Travel and Tourism Management. Those who succeeded got enrolment and those who didn’t either went abroad or ended up joining other courses.

Now the situation, however, has changed entirely. In the last one decade, 30 additional colleges have been added offering the hospitality management courses and, more importantly, half of them are running with the affiliation to the universities from various countries. Not just in the Kathmandu Valley the hospitality management courses are available in around half a dozen of cities outside the Capital. From the initial 160 seats now the enrolment capacity of such colleges has increased to 2,000.

Similarly, there are around 50 training centers that provide non academic trainings in various sectors of hospitality.

“Nepali students don’t need to go abroad for hospitality study,” said Khem Raj Lakai chief executive officer at Gate College. He claimed a good student never has to worry as there are lots of job opportunities waiting for them.

Lakai says the number of students opting for hospitality education is increasing every year as the job prospect is on the rise within the country while there are also opportunities aboard. He believes as the tourism sector is flourishing in the country the demand of the graduates will increase so will be the number of colleges providing hospitality education.

His argument is supported by a government announcement which aims to attract two million tourists annually starting from 2020. Currently some 600,000 tourists visit Nepal annually however, if the number increases as per the government plan the requirement of human resource will at least double during the period.

 Keeping in mind the surge in the number of tourist the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) aims to add 10,000 hotel rooms in the next three years including the establishment of 10 star hotels in various parts of the country. Currently there are around 40 star rated hotels in operation across the country.