This policy explains what personal information Beautiful Nepal collects when you use beautifulnepal.com, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and the choices and rights you have. We have tried to write it plainly. If anything is unclear, please use our contact form.
1. Who we are
Beautiful Nepal ("we", "us") runs beautifulnepal.com, a travel guide to Nepal with stories, guides, destinations, events and trip packages from local operators. We decide how and why your personal information is used, which makes us the "controller" of that information under data protection law.
2. At a glance
You can read the whole site without giving us any personal information.
We only collect what you choose to send us through a form, plus anonymous page-view counts.
If you send a trip request, we share it with licensed travel agencies in Nepal so they can help plan your trip. You agree to this on the form before you send it.
We use Google Analytics only if you accept analytics cookies. We don't use advertising cookies.
We never sell your personal information.
You can ask to see, correct or delete your information at any time.
3. What we collect and why
What we collect depends on what you do on the site:
Browsing the site
What
Pages you view, counted anonymously. If you accept analytics cookies: Google Analytics data such as approximate location, device, browser and how you move through the site (IP addresses are anonymised).
Why
To see which pages are useful and keep the site working well.
Planning a trip (trip request form)
What
Your name, email address, phone number (optional), nationality, the kind of trip you're interested in and when you plan to travel.
Why
To match your request with licensed travel agencies in Nepal and help you plan your trip.
Contacting us
What
Your name, email address and your message.
Why
To read and reply to your message.
Subscribing to our newsletter
What
Your email address, where you signed up and when.
Why
To send you the newsletter until you unsubscribe.
Submitting an event
What
The event details, organiser name, organiser email address and any poster you upload.
Why
To review the event and, if approved, publish it. The organiser name and email may be shown with the published event.
Applying to become a partner (travel operators)
What
Company name, registration, tourism licence and PAN/VAT numbers, year established, address, website, services and regions, and the contact person's name, role, email and phone or WhatsApp number.
Why
To check the application and, if approved, create the partner's account and publish their packages.
Using a dashboard account (team members and partners)
What
Name, email address, username, phone number, role, company, notification preferences and activity needed to run the account. Passwords are stored only in a secure, one-way hashed form.
Why
To sign you in, give you the right access and send the notifications you choose.
Information collected automatically
Like any website, the servers that host our site and API keep short-lived technical logs (such as IP address, browser type and the page requested) to deliver pages, prevent abuse and fix problems. Our forms use a simple security question to block spam; it doesn't collect personal information.
We don't ask for sensitive information such as health, religion or financial details, and we don't take payments on this site. Please don't include sensitive information in messages or trip requests.
4. Our legal reasons for using your information
Where data protection laws such as the UK or EU GDPR apply, we rely on these legal bases:
Consent: analytics cookies, the newsletter and sharing your trip request with travel agencies. You can withdraw consent at any time; this doesn't affect anything we did before.
Taking steps at your request, or a contract: replying to your messages, handling partner applications and running dashboard accounts.
Legitimate interests: keeping the site secure, preventing spam and abuse, understanding anonymous page-view counts and improving our content. We only rely on this where it doesn't override your rights.
Legal obligations: where we must keep or disclose information by law.
5. Who we share it with
Travel agencies and partners in Nepal
When you send a trip request, we share your request and contact details with one or more licensed travel agencies or partner operators in Nepal so they can contact you with options. Each agency is responsible for how it uses your information once it receives it, under its own privacy policy. When you enquire about a partner's package, your enquiry may be passed to that partner.
Service providers
We use trusted companies to run the site. They process information only on our instructions and only for the service they provide:
Amazon Web Services (AWS Amplify): hosts the website.
Fly.io: hosts our application server and database (accounts, trip requests, listings).
Sanity: stores our content and a backup copy of form submissions, so they aren't lost if our main server is unavailable.
Upstash: a fast cache that temporarily holds page data and anonymous view counts.
Resend and Brevo: send emails such as replies, confirmations, password resets and notifications.
Cloudinary: stores and delivers images, including event posters and package photos.
Google: Google Analytics (only if you accept analytics cookies) and, where offered, signing in with a Google account.
Other situations
We may disclose information if the law requires it, to protect the rights, safety or property of our visitors, partners or ourselves, or as part of a merger or sale of the site (in which case this policy would continue to apply to your information). We never sell or rent your personal information, and we don't share it for advertising.
6. Cookies and similar technologies
We keep this to a minimum:
Essential (always on): remembering your cookie choice (stored in your browser for 12 months) and, if you have a dashboard account, keeping you signed in (a secure sign-in cookie and a token in your browser's storage, removed when you sign out or it expires).
Analytics (only with your consent): Google Analytics cookies (named _ga and _ga_…) that help us understand how the site is used. They aren't set until you click "Accept analytics", and we delete them if you change your mind.
No advertising or tracking cookies.
Page-view counts are anonymous: they record which page was viewed, not who viewed it, and use no cookies. You can change your cookie choice at any time with the "Cookie settings" link in the footer or the button at the bottom of this page. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings.
7. International transfers
Our service providers may store or process information in the United States, the European Union and other countries, and trip requests are shared with agencies in Nepal. These countries may have different data protection laws from yours. Where the law requires it, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the European Commission's standard contractual clauses or the UK equivalent, and we share only what is needed.
8. How long we keep it
We keep personal information only as long as we need it:
Trip requests and contact messages: up to 24 months after our last contact with you, so we can follow up on your trip and answer later questions.
Newsletter: until you unsubscribe. After that we keep only your email address and the fact that you unsubscribed, so we don't email you again.
Event submissions: while the event is listed, and up to 12 months afterwards.
Partner applications: rejected applications for up to 12 months; approved partners for as long as the partnership lasts and up to 6 years afterwards for legal and accounting purposes.
Dashboard accounts: while the account is active. Closed accounts are deleted or anonymised within 12 months.
Analytics: Google Analytics data is kept for up to 14 months.
Server logs: kept briefly by our hosting providers, usually no more than 30 days.
When information is no longer needed, we delete it or make it anonymous.
9. How we protect it
We use encrypted connections (HTTPS) for the whole site, hash passwords so they can't be read, limit access to personal information to the people who need it, and choose service providers with strong security practices. Private form submissions are never published. No system is perfectly secure, so if you think your information has been put at risk, please tell us straight away. If a breach is likely to affect you, we'll let you and the relevant authorities know as the law requires.
10. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you have the right to:
Access: ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Correct: have inaccurate or incomplete information fixed.
Delete: ask us to erase your information.
Restrict or object: ask us to limit how we use your information, or object to uses based on our legitimate interests.
Portability: receive your information in a common, machine-readable format.
Withdraw consent: for analytics cookies, the newsletter or sharing your trip request, at any time.
Complain: to your local data protection authority, for example the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in the UK or the supervisory authority in your EU country.
If you live in a US state with a privacy law (such as California or Texas), you also have the right to know what we collect, to request deletion and correction, and not to be treated differently for using your rights. We don't sell personal information or use it for targeted advertising.
To use any of these rights, send us a request through our contact form and use the email address the request relates to, so we can confirm it's you. It's free, and we'll reply within one month (or sooner where the law requires). You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link in any newsletter email. Once we've shared a trip request with an agency, you can also contact that agency directly.
11. Children
This site is for adults planning travel. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 16. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, please contact us and we'll delete it.
12. Links to other websites
Our pages link to other websites, including travel operators, booking sites and affiliate partners (we may earn a commission if you book through some of these links, at no extra cost to you). Some images are loaded from third-party image services. Once you leave our site, the other website's privacy policy applies, so please read it before sharing information there.
13. Changes to this policy
We'll update this policy when the way we handle information changes. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If a change is significant, we'll make it clear on the site and, where we have your email for a relevant reason, let you know.
14. Contact us
For any question about this policy or your personal information, or to use your rights, please use our contact form and choose a subject that mentions privacy. We read every message.
Your cookie choices
We use essential storage to make the site work and, only if you agree, Google Analytics cookies to understand which pages are useful. You can change your choice at any time.