By Our Correspondent
Bhairahawa, Dec. 9: At a time when the State government has been marking the Lumbini Visit Year, number of tourists in Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, has increased.
According to the Lumbini Development Trust, around 1.4 million tourists, including domestic and foreign, visited Lumbini during the first 11 months of 2019.
Although the tourist arrival increased, their stay has not been extended.
Information Officer of Lumbini Development Trust Haridhoj Rai said that the number to tourists visiting Lumbini increased this year compared to last year.
About 1.43 million tourists visited Lumbini in 2018, he said.
Of the total tourists, around 155,503 tourists were from the third countries.
Rai said that about 1,049,000 domestic tourists and 176,600 Indian tourists visited the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
However, the local entrepreneurs were unable to get the expected returns from the business even though the flow of tourists went up as their stay period did not increase, said Chandra Prakash Shrestha, chairman of Siddhartha Hotel Association.
Tourists from Thailand, China, Myanmar and Sri Lanka are visiting Lumbini, he said.
Shrestha said that only 10 per cent tourists visiting Lumbini spent a night in Lumbini.