Kathmandu. The tourist activity in Mustang has started to increase. With the start of the tourist season, the traffic of tourists has increased.
October-November is the main tourist season of Nepal. According to the Area Conservation Office of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project located in Jomsom, 15,328 foreign tourists have visited Mustang since last July.
“From July to October of the current financial year, 13 thousand 98 tourists from SAARC countries and 2 thousand 230 tourists from outside SAARC have visited Mustang”, said Pramodraj Regmi, head of the conservation office, “the number of foreign tourists entering Mustang is higher, Indian religious tourists are mainly visiting Muktinath. come for.’
He said that Mustang tourism, which slowed down during the Covid-19 epidemic, is gradually returning to its rhythm. Head of Office Regmi mentioned that the movement of domestic tourists in Mustang has decreased slightly compared to the previous year.
“The data of domestic tourists visiting Mustang has not been kept, but this year, the movement of Nepalis in Mustang is less,” he said.
Manguna Thakali, the owner of Srijan Hotel and Thakali Kitchen in Jomsom, said that the number of domestic tourists in Mustang was very low compared to last year.
“The number of domestic tourists used to increase around Dasain, the hotels used to be full of guests, now the hotel rooms are empty during the main days”, he said, “The effect of the economic recession has also been seen in Mustang tourism, it is expected that domestic tourists will increase after Dasain.”
Thakali said that even though the road connecting Mustang is poor, the movement of tourists is not easy.
“Compared to the rainy season, the roads have improved a bit now, but due to the lack of quality roads, tourists coming to Mustang have to suffer in places,” he said.
Hotel and tourism businessmen in and around Mustang are worried about the lack of tourists during the main season. Tourists reach Mustang by road through Myagdi and by air from Pokhara.
Robin Kadaria, the head of the Annapurna Conservation Area project, said that even after cutting the Thorangla Bhanjyang through Manang, tourist mustangs enter. He says that Mustang, which is included in the world-famous Annapurna cycle path, is the choice of domestic and foreign tourists.
“Overall, although the number of foreign tourists in Mustang has increased, the number of tourists from outside the SAARC countries seems to be decreasing”, he said, “most of the foreign tourists who visit Mustang are Indian religious tourists.”
The Muktinath area in Mustang is considered a sacred religious place among Hindus all over the world.
As the Buddhist monk Padyasambhava went to Tibet to preach Buddhism through Muktinath, the area is also known as a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists.(E