Tourist arrival doubles in Chitwan National Park

Chitwan, December 1

Chitwan National Park has seen an encouraging surge in the number of visitors this year. Tourists have doubled this year compared to last year, when tourist numbers dipped due to the earthquakes and the border blockade.

While there is no precise data of the number of tourists visiting Chitwan district, the CPN keeps record of those visiting the sanctuary. “Considering the data of the first four months of the current fiscal, the number of tourists visiting the park has doubled in comparison to last year,” said Assistant Conservation Officer at the CPN Nurendra Aryal.

According to him, the park has registered 38,604 tourists in the first four months of the current fiscal, a number that stood at just 18,138 during the same period last fiscal.

Further, as per data cited by Aryal, 10,721 tourists visited the park between mid-October and mid-November alone. “Of them, 4,276 were domestic tourists and 1,289 were from SAARC and other third countries,” he said.

The increase in visitors has increased the national park’s revenue. “We have collected Rs 61.1 million from visitors during the first four months,” said Aryal, adding that the collection was Rs 24.9 million during the same period in the previous fiscal.