Originally published by Thomson Reuters Foundation, Tuesday, 9 February 2021 03:30 GMT
Hurting from COVID travel restrictions, tourist towns were relying on local visitors - but lack of snow related to climate change means few have come
* Nepal is heating up at the rate of 0.6 degrees Celsius per decade
* High-altitude regions are seeing the biggest temperature hikes
* Lack of snow leaves hotel rooms empty and impacts crops
DHAMPUS, Nepal, Feb 9(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Over the 12 years that Baburam Giri has worked as a hotel cook in the village of Dhampus - a major tourist draw with its views of the towering Annapurna mountain range - winters have become less snowy.
"The snowfall we had five years ago was more than 2 feet deep - but we didn't have significant snowfall after that," lamented Giri, standing at his stove at the Hotel Yama Sakura.
With hotels across the world feeling the financial pain of travel restrictions to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Giri said his central Nepal community was relying mainly on Nepali tourists, who come every year drawn by the wintry weather.
But this year, the bare ground means few visitors.
"Many domestic and local tourists come to this area to play in the snow whenever there is snowfall," Giri told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"But (now) the hotel is almost empty."
From tourism to farming, industries based in Nepal's mountains are hurting from a drop in income due to the lack of heavy snowfall in recent years - a phenomenon that scientists link to increasing temperatures.