Nepal Just Started Training Trekking Cooks in Korean Cuisine — Inside the Push for South Korea's Trekkers
A two-week culinary and hygiene course for more than 30 trekking cooks and field staff, backed by the Korean Embassy in Kathmandu, is Nepal's clearest bet yet on South Korea's 30-million-strong outbound travel market.
At a glance
- Published
- TopicIndustry & Tourism
- Verified againstThe Tourism Times
- Treks coveredAnnapurna Base Camp Trek — 9 Days, Everest Base Camp Trek — 14 Days
From August 10 to 21, more than 30 cooks and trekking field staff in Nepal are sitting through a course most of the country's tourism sector has never needed before: how to cook, plate and serve specifically for Korean trekkers. The Korean Culinary and Hygiene Training for Trekking Field Staff, organised by the Korea Tours and Trekking Operators Association of Nepal (KTTOAN) and financially backed by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Kathmandu, is a direct response to one thing — South Korean arrivals to Nepal are growing, and the industry has decided it cannot serve that market the way it serves everyone else.
Key facts
- Training runs August 10-21, 2026, for more than 30 cooks and field staff
- Organised by KTTOAN, funded by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Nepal
- Curriculum covers Korean cuisine, food hygiene, kitchen management, clean service and Korean guest care
- South Korea sent more than 23,000 visitors to Nepal in 2025, out of a source market of nearly 30 million outbound travellers a year
The trainer, Rajeshwori Magar Sherpa, is teaching both theory and hands-on kitchen sessions — Korean recipes adapted to teahouse kitchens at altitude, hygiene standards that match what Korean travellers expect at home, and the small service habits that read as quality to a Korean guest but rarely register with a Western one. KTTOAN's president, Amar Bahadur Shahi, has framed the goal plainly: a trekking workforce that can deliver Korean-standard food and service on a Himalayan trail, not just Nepali dal bhat with a translated menu. Lee Woojin, the Korean Embassy's cultural counsellor in Kathmandu, said she was pleased to back the initiative, thanking KTTOAN for what both sides now describe as an ongoing partnership.
Where Korea sits in Nepal's tourist mix right now
The training lands right as Nepal's overall arrivals data for July came in. The country welcomed 71,775 foreign visitors in July 2026, up 2.3 percent on the same month last year — a modest headline number, but inside it Chinese arrivals surged 61.1 percent to 11,099, pushing past pre-pandemic July 2019 levels for the first time. Here is how the month's top markets stacked up:
| Source market | Arrivals | Change YoY |
|---|---|---|
| India | 23,490 | — |
| China | 11,099 | +61.1% |
| United States | 7,754 | — |
| Bangladesh | 4,179 | — |
| United Kingdom | 3,773 | — |
| Australia | 2,428 | — |
| Total, all markets | 71,775 | +2.3% |
South Korea did not break into July's published top six, but the annual trend is what has Nepal's tourism board paying attention: more than 23,000 Korean visitors came in 2025 alone, and Nepal has been actively courting the market, running a pavilion at the Seoul International Travel Fair in June 2026 to reach a Korean outbound travel market that Nepal Tourism Board itself puts at close to 30 million trips a year. Even a small shift in Nepal's share of that number would move Korea into the same league as the UK or Australia within a couple of seasons.
South Korea crosses 23,000 annual arrivals to Nepal for the first time on record.
Nepal Tourism Board runs a dedicated pavilion at the Seoul International Travel Fair, targeting Korea's outbound market directly.
KTTOAN and the Korean Embassy run the first dedicated Korean culinary and hygiene course for trekking staff.
What this means for trekkers
This is not only a Korea story. It signals that Nepal's trekking sector is professionalising its kitchens market by market rather than running one menu for everyone — the same instinct behind our own guided treks built around different diets, fitness levels and group sizes. If food quality matters to your trip, ask your operator directly who trained their cooks and when; an operator that can answer in detail is usually the one running a tighter kitchen at 4,000 metres.
Whichever market you are trekking from, the standard this course is chasing is the one we hold our own kitchens to on routes like Annapurna Base Camp and Everest Base Camp — hot, hygienic, appetite-appropriate food at altitude, not just calories.
Source: The Tourism Times, with July 2026 arrivals data reported by The Himalayan Times.
Cover photo: Abdul Kayum via Pexels (Pexels License).
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