Chitwan National Park saw rise in number of visitors last fiscal

CHITWAN, July 24

Despite a brief spell of depression in the wake of the earthquake, Chitwan National Park has registered an increase in the number of visitors in the last fiscal compared to the previous fiscal.

As per the records with the national park authorities, a total of 178,220 tourists visited the national park in the fiscal year 2014-15.

The number of visitors stood at 172,425 in fiscal year 2013-14.

According to the national park assistant conservation officer Bishnu Thapaliya, the collection of revenue also went up along with the number of tourists in the last fiscal though they have fallen short to meet the target.

“Compared to the revenue of fiscal year 2013-14, we managed to collect around 2 million rupees more in the last fiscal. The total collection stood at Rs 249.4 million,” Thapaliya said.

“But our target was 190,000 tourists, with estimates of revenue collection somewhere at 290 million rupees,” he added.

The national park chief conservation officer Kamaljung Kunwar attributed the steady rise in the foreign visitors over the years to the growing popularity of the park as a sanctuary of the rare one-horned rhinos.

The national park charges Rs 100, Rs 750 and Rs 1,500 to domestic visitors, tourists from SAARC countries and visitors from other countries respectively.

Of the revenue collected annually, almost half of the amount is spent in revamping of the buffer zone.