Dhorpatan Valley Sees Tourist Surge During Extended Holiday

Baglung. Tourists have increased in the Dhorpatan valley due to a continuous four-day holiday. Hotels have become full with hundreds of domestic tourists arriving in a single day. Some tourists even had to return due to not finding rooms in hotels.

Although the holiday started from Thursday, hotels in Dhorpatan were already full from Wednesday. Jeevan Pun, Chairman of the Dhorpatan Valley Hotel Entrepreneurs Association, said that managing hotels became a problem with hundreds of tourists arriving in a single day. There are 27 hotels and 12 homestays in Dhorpatan.

Chairman Pun said that due to the extensive promotion of Dhorpatan in recent times, tourists come whenever there is a one or two-day holiday. He stated that hotel entrepreneurs accommodated guests who had booked in advance from June 12, but others could not find accommodation. He added, "Perhaps because it's a long holiday at once, an unmanageable number of guests have arrived. Nearby empty houses have also been occupied; no hotel or homestay is vacant." He further said, "Around a hundred tourists who contacted me had to return without accommodation. Many guests who contacted other business friends also had to return. We now urge tourists coming to Dhorpatan to come only after understanding the hotel situation."

The capacity of hotels and homestays in Dhorpatan is to accommodate 700 guests per night. However, hotel entrepreneur Shivraj Kandel said that managing hotels has become difficult as more than double the capacity of tourists are arriving. He mentioned that tourists are always coming, but due to the holiday, more than a thousand tourists have come to Dhorpatan in a single day. He shared that he accommodated 80 guests and had to send 200 people to other hotels. He added that the crowd of tourists at this time makes Dhorpatan feel like a festival. Kandel said that they were forced to turn away guests despite not wanting to.

The number of tourists visiting here has increased significantly after the Burtibang-Dhorpatan road was improved recently. As it is possible to reach Dhorpatan in about an hour from Burtibang market, the attraction for tourists is increasing. Until last year, the road condition was poor.

Mahesh Khadka, who visited Dhorpatan for tourism from Gulmi on Friday afternoon, said he had to stay in Burtibang market after not finding a hotel. He complained that they came with a group of 13 people with a plan to travel for three days but had to return on the same day due to not finding accommodation in the hotel. Khadka said that only those who reached Dhorpatan on Thursday got hotels.

Dhan Bahadur Kayat, Deputy Mayor of Dhorpatan Municipality, said that many tourists come to Dhorpatan seeking coolness as the plains are hot during this season. He urged tourists to come to Dhorpatan only after contacting hotel entrepreneurs, as managing food, accommodation, and other arrangements becomes difficult when tourists arrive all at once.