New year brings hopes for tourism in Pokhara

Pokhara, a gift of nature, is a popular tourist destination in the country and abroad. From various festivals, whether it is Nepali New Year or English New Year, this place is full of tourists.

Corona-affected tourism has been booming for the past two years, but the recent English New Year has added to the excitement.

On the eve of the arrival of the English New Year, the bustle of tourists on December 30, 31, and January 1, which has been booming since Christmas, has raised more hopes.

Laxman Subedi, president of the Western Hotel Association, Pokhara, said that corona-laden tourism was slowly gaining momentum and a good number of domestic tourists, as well as tourists from neighboring India, entered the English New Year.

Due to the road festival being organized by the Restaurant and Bar Association on the occasion of the English New Year, the attraction of domestic and foreign tourists in Pokhara is increasing at this time.

He said that out of 1000 tourist hotels in Pokhara, there are 700 hotels in the area around Lakeside. He said that there are more than 30,000 beds in the hotels. He informed that the hotels are full of tourists up to 80 percent of the capacity in the English New Year.

Stating that for the first time since the Corona epidemic, such a large number of tourists, he said that he was excited by the growing attraction of Indian tourists. According to tourism businessmen, this time a large number of tourists had come to Pokhara from the areas near the border of Nepal, including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Most of the Indian tourists who have come to Pokhara have brought vehicles from there and even come on some motorcycles. Laxman Baral Rewan, president of Restaurant and Bar Association, said that the English New Year has become an attraction of Pokhara.

“The English New Year Road Festival has become like the identity of Pokhara,” he said. Pokhara was full of tourists on December 30, 31, and January 1 before the arrival of the English New Year, said Bobar Jung Gurung, the outgoing president of the Nepal Tourism Transport Entrepreneurs Association Gandaki Province and the operator of Hotel Elegant, Gaurighat Lakeside.