Kathmandu, Sept. 3 -- After a turbulent year that saw Nepal's tourism industry battered first by the Gen Z protests and then by tensions in West Asia, Mandip Giri, managing director of Dom Himalaya Hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu, had finally begun to feel optimistic. Bookings for the September-November peak season had crossed 90 percent.

Then the Bhotekoshi disaster struck. The timing could not have been worse.

Within a week, about a fifth of his bookings disappeared.

"Cancellation is rising each passing day as search and rescue intensify in northern Nepal," Giri told the Post. "Over the last seven days, 20 percent of bookings have already been cancelled, particularly bookings."

The problem, tourism entrepreneurs say, is not necessarily w...