Indian Tourists Flock to Pokhara, Hotels Reach 90% Occupancy

Kaski. With the tourist capital Pokhara packed with Indian tourists, hotels here have been filled to capacity. Currently, most of the Indian tourists are seen bustling on the streets of Lakeside and at the Barahi Temple.

The number of Indian tourists in Gandaki Province's major religious and tourist destinations, especially the Barahi Temple on Phewa Lake, Bindhyabasini, Muktinath, and various trekking routes, has been encouraging, said Laxman Subedi, Chairman of the Hotel Association Pokhara, Nepal. Subedi stated that Indian citizens are increasingly choosing Nepal as an attractive and convenient destination to escape the rising heat in India and make the most of their holidays, and it is the duty of Pokhara's tourism entrepreneurs to welcome and honor them. With the increase in tourist activity, boat rides, trekking, and other tourism activities have also increased, according to Chairman Subedi.

Dhan Bahadur BK, joint secretary of the Phewa Boat Entrepreneurs Organization, informed that four to five thousand Indian tourists take boat rides on Phewa Lake daily. BK mentioned that for the past month and a half, there has been a significant presence of Indian tourists who are keen to visit the Barahi Temple located in the middle of Phewa Lake. "The situation of waiting by the lake all day and returning home empty-handed has changed with the increase in Indian tourists," said joint secretary BK. Currently, 140 boats are operating daily from Barahi Ghat alone.

Deepak Sapkota, treasurer of Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN) Gandaki, informed that one and a half lakh Indian tourists have visited Pokhara in the last month and a half, engaging in religious sites, short-distance treks, paragliding, bungee jumping, boating, and rafting. He added that Indian tourists are currently filling up everything from five-star hotels to small hotels and guesthouses. Hotelier Parvati Pandey shared that foreign tourists tend to bargain more on food than on rooms. Since hotel rooms are expensive in India, they do not bargain much on rooms. She stated that hotels in Pokhara are sustained by Indian tourists and that if Nepal's tourist and religious areas are promoted in India, Pokhara will be packed with Indian tourists.

Although tourism entrepreneurs consider this season as 'off-season', they are more enthusiastic with the significant increase in tourist numbers. Tourism entrepreneurs say that the wave of tourist arrivals, which began after the Nepali New Year, has continued until the end of Jestha. Statistics from tourism entrepreneurs show that in the past month, one and a half lakh Indian tourists have entered Pokhara alone. Hotel entrepreneurs say that the occupancy rate in hotels here has reached 90%. They particularly visit Talbarahi Temple, Pugdi Shiva Temple, Kedareswar, Bindhyabasini, Muktinath, and Manakamana Temple. It is our duty to love the guests who come to Nepal. Nepalis also tend to eat outside rather than in hotels when visiting religious sites in India. Pokhara has the capacity to accommodate ten thousand tourists in hotels in a single day.