How digital marketing can be used to find and expand new destinations for developing tourism businesses in Nepal.
Sapkota, Aayushi (2025)
2025
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025061623103
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025061623103
Tiivistelmä
This research explores how digital marketing can be effectively used to identify and promote new tourist destinations in Nepal, supporting the development of the country’s tourism business. Nepal, known for its natural beauty and cultural richness, has a tourism industry that remains heavily centered around a few popular locations. As a result, many remote or lesser-known areas with great tourism potential remain underdeveloped and overlooked.
This study investigates how digital platforms, such as social media, websites, blogs, video-sharing apps, and online advertising, can help tourism businesses expand into these new destinations. Three main ob-jectives guided the research: to assess how digital marketing is currently used by tourism-related busi-nesses in Nepal, to examine the effectiveness of various digital strategies in promoting lesser-known destinations, and to identify the challenges and opportunities in adopting these strategies. A mixed-methods approach was used, with quantitative data collected through surveys from tourism professionals representing hotels, homestays, travel agencies, and marketing firms.
The findings show that many tourism businesses are already using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to promote their services and destinations. Short-form videos, photos, and blog content were found to be the most used content types. However, challenges such as a lack of digital skills, poor internet infrastructure, and limited content resources were major barriers, especially in remote areas. Despite these obstacles, most respondents agreed that digital marketing has the potential to significantly boost tourism in lesser-known regions of Nepal.
The study concludes that digital marketing, when strategically applied, offers a powerful and affordable tool for expanding Nepal’s tourism landscape. The research recommends capacity-building in digital skills, better access to content creation tools, and stronger collaboration between local communities, government agencies, and digital influencers. These efforts could help bring hidden destinations into the spotlight, contributing to more balanced and sustainable tourism development across the country.
This study investigates how digital platforms, such as social media, websites, blogs, video-sharing apps, and online advertising, can help tourism businesses expand into these new destinations. Three main ob-jectives guided the research: to assess how digital marketing is currently used by tourism-related busi-nesses in Nepal, to examine the effectiveness of various digital strategies in promoting lesser-known destinations, and to identify the challenges and opportunities in adopting these strategies. A mixed-methods approach was used, with quantitative data collected through surveys from tourism professionals representing hotels, homestays, travel agencies, and marketing firms.
The findings show that many tourism businesses are already using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to promote their services and destinations. Short-form videos, photos, and blog content were found to be the most used content types. However, challenges such as a lack of digital skills, poor internet infrastructure, and limited content resources were major barriers, especially in remote areas. Despite these obstacles, most respondents agreed that digital marketing has the potential to significantly boost tourism in lesser-known regions of Nepal.
The study concludes that digital marketing, when strategically applied, offers a powerful and affordable tool for expanding Nepal’s tourism landscape. The research recommends capacity-building in digital skills, better access to content creation tools, and stronger collaboration between local communities, government agencies, and digital influencers. These efforts could help bring hidden destinations into the spotlight, contributing to more balanced and sustainable tourism development across the country.