Pokhara, August 3 The number of foreign tourists visiting the regional museum at Nayabazaar of Pokhara, Kaski, has dropped remarkably in the last fiscal compared to the year before that. As many as 5,920 foreigners visited the museum in the fiscal 2014/15 while the number stood at 2,469 in 2015/2016, less than 50 per cent. The revenue of the museum also dropped by more than 50 per cent with the decline in number of visitors. Revenue collection in the last fiscal was Rs 249,000 while the revenue a year before that was more than Rs 500,000, said sources. The museum runs under the Department of Archaeology and contains costumes representing folk culture and tradition, items that reflect concrete and abstract culture besides various antiques on display. Acting museum officer Kabindra Poudel said they were witnessing decline in the number of visitors after last year’s devastating earthquake. “However, there has been a slight increase in the number of Indian tourists in the last two months,” he said. A separate Mustang Gallery was also established with the joint effort of Khinga and Garabajong Nepal and German Archaeological Exploration team in 1998. “The items kept in the gallery are 500 to 1,500 years old. Various china items, metal weapons and wooden items used by locals are also on display,” he claimed. Various other items excavated from the villages of Mustang have also been kept in the Department of Archaeology in Kathmandu and the regional museum in Kapilvastu for people to see and recall the cultural as well as traditional history of Mustang, said Poudel.