In modern society, Nepal domestic tourism has long faced a significant gap in online accommodation booking platforms. Dr. Ramesh Paudel, a Nepalese data scientist based in the USA, started Basiyo.com to tackle significant gaps in Nepal domestic tourism sector and to provide local travelers a seamless, legitimate digital booking interface.
Basiyo.com seeks to empower Nepali travelers and digitize the local hospitality sector. Basiyo.com appeals to all types of housing options from hotels and motels to private homes.
Dr. Paudel explains his personal and professional experience as a data scientist and the challenges of building a digital landscape for the Nepal tourism industry. He emphasizes that he is trying to empower local travelers along with the small accommodations sector. His goal is for Nepal to become a destination that will harness the value of the digital transformation for its economy.
Also, Dr. Paudel examines the cultural transition of youth in Nepal, especially regarding tourism, digital tools, platforms, education in the market, building trust, and local innovation. A key element of the story is that it shows how people can connect the biometric things that people are used to, with the new technologies.
Dr. Paudel’s Journey: From Rural Nepal to Building a Tech Startup Abroad
Dr. Ramesh Paudel’s journey from a rural area of Nepal to an internationally recognized successful technology entrepreneur is both inspiring and enlightening. Dr. Ramesh remembers his upbringing in Annapurna Rural Municipality. He mentions sharing two classes in one room at school. He says those experiences from childhood taught him resilience and determination in life. He reflected on his childhood with limited resources and educational competition but eventually completed higher studies in computer science.
Dr. Ramesh said his IT path in Nepal developed while he was learning about education, including some opportunities that were affiliated with international universities. However, Dr. Ramesh states there were various academic and structural barriers on the way to achieving these goals. Ultimately, Dr. Ramesh acknowledged that this gave him a core desire for more prospects for success, which he intended to pursue in the United States.
He recounts how his desire to expand his education, improve working conditions, and gain worldwide exposure to technology was stifled while he was in Nepal.
While working as a data scientist in the United States, he reflected on Nepal’s tourism service. He uncovered a massive gap in the service: the lack of a local platform for domestic tourists to book accommodation.
Dr. Ramesh Paudel
Basiyo: A Localized Booking Platform for Nepal Domestic Tourism
According to Dr. Paudel, “Basiyo.com” is a localized booking platform that has been built only for Nepal domestic tourism. It has booking options for hotels, a homestay, private apartments, and some additional rooms for rent.
Dr. Paudel would then share the story about Basiyo being established, saying the founders saw a big gap in the Nepal tourism ecosystem and decided to develop Basiyo during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In summary, the founders were thrilled to digitalize Nepal’s tourism industry, and provide a product for younger travelers that resonates with them, as well as provides convenience and confidence towards travel.
He says that the key differences are what make Basiyo unique versus global platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com. He states that Basiyo focuses specifically on meeting the unique needs of Nepalese travelers rather than foreign travelers. Basiyo has a deep understanding of local market dynamics, including the high percentage of offline bookings, limited digital payment adoption, and the cultural nuances of Nepali travelers.
He disclosed that the platform’s goal was to provide a user-friendly and trustworthy service tailored to the local preferences of Nepali tourists and to help implement digital payment methods in Nepal.
Dr. Paudel also discloses the meaning behind choosing the name “Basiyo.” He explains that it was a thoughtful process reflecting the platform’s mission to provide a “home-like stay” experience for travelers across Nepal.
Challenges in Market Data, Offline Booking Culture, and Digital Payment Adoption
Dr. Paudel stated that creating a hotel booking platform for a developing country like Nepal was challenging, in part due to the fragmented and inadequate market data. He explained that some of the challenges of market research included a lack of dependable data on the number of actual hotels, their capacity, and the number of people traveling to Nepal.
This was a challenge because it made it more difficult to develop a platform that accurately represented the full range of hotel choices available as an integrated booking platform.
Basiyo.com was able to overcome these challenges by leveraging a variety of recent technological advancements. Dr. Paudel stated that this led to the development of a trusted network platform, which provides access to over 1,400 hotels in 77 districts across Nepal. The platform offers an integrated suite of digital services and constructs, including fintech-enabled bus and airline ticket booking, as well as accommodation booking.
Basiyo worked to pool and leverage resources and marketing to cultivate the market while building trust in online bookings and increasing digital adoption to help Nepal domestic tourism.
According to Dr. Paudel, one of the main challenges to Basiyo was changing the deeply entrenched offline booking habits of Nepali tourists. He noted that 97% of bookings were offline, and only 15% of tourists utilize digital means of payment. He divulged that changing the mindsets of consumers can be accomplished with consistent education and more time for acceptance of new technology.
Additionally, managing the business remotely from abroad introduced time zone and coordination difficulties, demanding flexible communication strategies and a strong team understanding to maintain productivity and service quality in a growing market still transitioning into digital commerce.
Perceptions and Realities: Nepalis Living Abroad Reflect on Their Homeland
Dr. Paudel says that Nepalese living in the U.S. have a combination of pride and realism about their homeland. They love Nepal, as well as its culture and the people. They also see the obvious organizational issues in the country, such as government corruption, inadequate infrastructure, and slow economic development. Thus, a strong appreciation for their roots coexists alongside a desire for real change.
Many Nepalis living abroad believe that the possibilities within Nepal are often constrained by challenges that repeat over time, such as managerially ineffective leadership and bureaucratic impediments to pursuing deployment.
They promote that stronger institutions and governance will encourage the use of the country’s resources to create sustainable development opportunities.
In addition, these perspectives are factors in the hope of Nepalis abroad for change. They acknowledge the need to develop innovation, education, and a progressive mindset within Nepal.
Overcoming Nepal’s Weaknesses, Building Strong Teams, and Inspiring the Youth
Dr. Puadel notes that Nepal is facing several systemic issues like poor management, ineffective treatment, and systemic layers of bureaucracy.
He believes that correcting those problems will take time and that we need to focus on rectifying governance, managerial capacity, and transparency to maximize future success.
Building a team also takes leadership, and to construct a long-term sustainable team, Dr. Paudel explains three components that will differentiate leaders from managers: (1) a mutual understanding, (2) trust, and (3) clarity of role. These three components create a productive working environment, which allows a start-up to fix multiple discontinuous problems and scale sustainably while constrained by resources in a chaotic environment.
Dr. Puadel concluded with a cultural message to the Nepali youth to be resilient and continuously learn and innovate. For new entrepreneurs, he encouraged teams to develop a balanced mindset but also be patient enough not to obstruct progress and contribute to local or global gains for Nepal.
A Vision for Local Innovation Through Empowering Nepal’s Tourism Future:
Basiyo is not only a channel for digital bookings, but it is an attempt to digitize Nepal domestic tourism and create value for the local travelers and hosts.
Basiyo is building the next generation of technology-based solutions tailored to the unique challenges of the Nepalese market, addressing the specific needs of Nepalis. It sees itself as a bridge from the current practices of an offline market to an online world through easy-to-use digital solutions for the Nepalese market and Nepal domestic tourism.
In this video, Dr. Paudel discusses the importance of creating local products and technologies that are connected to the cultural distinctions of the Nepalese market and of creating a process of having customers adopt technology. His platform will also support the economic development of local hotel owners and increase transparency and trust, which are vital for ensuring that tourism revenue stays in Nepal and benefits local communities.
Basiyo provides a real sense of hope, innovation, and grit to youth and entrepreneurs throughout the country. He actively supports using technology for development. It represents an opportunity for local initiatives, led by visionary leaders and committed teams, to drive real change in Nepal domestic tourism and digital future.
