Domestic tourists prefer villages to cities

Kathmandu: The main tourist village of Kaski has started to see a rush of visitors. After Dasain-Tihar, the activity of tourists started to increase in Ghandruk, Sikles, Tangting, Dhampus, Lwanghlel, and other villages of Kaski.

People who come to visit Pokhara today do not want to be limited to Pokhara. Their choice is the surrounding villages.

Tourists who have taken comfortable facilities in Pokhara’s well-equipped hotels have reached the villages and started enjoying the hospitality and natural beauty there. Amrit Gurung, a local businessman, informed that more than 2,000 tourists visit the tourist village of Ghandruk every day.

He said, “On Friday and Saturday, hotels and homestays in Ghandruk were full. Therefore, if you are coming to visit Ghandruk, I request you to come only with advance notice.”  Bikram Gurung, Chairman of Ghandruk Tourism Management Committee informed that there are around 50 hotels and 20 home stays to accommodate guests in Ghandruk.  He said that it can be managed in as many as 10 houses when there are many guests.

President Gurung informed that only 2000 guests can be accommodated in Sattari-Asi Hotel and homestay in a day. Devijung Gurung, ward president of Madi Rural Municipality-1 informed that 1,000 tourists also arrive in Sikles, another tourist village of Kaski.

“There are 15 hotels that can accommodate up to 50-60 people in Sikles, there are 27 unregistered homestays”, he said. “Everyone is packed now.”

Hotel association Pokhara also said that tourists did not come to Pokhara as expected. Lakshman Subedi, President of Hotel Association Pokhara Nepal, said that the occupancy rate of hotels in Pokhara is around 20 to 30 percent only as most tourists prefer villages and homestays to cities.