Tourists to Mustang increase this year

By Our correspondent,Myagdi, June 9: In the past five months, over 43,000 foreign visitors visited the Himalayan district of Mustang. 

According to data released by the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) Mustang, 43,869 foreign visitors visited Mustang from January 2023 to the end of May.

Among them, 4,878 sought permission to travel to the entire Annapurna Circuit via Thorang La Pass to Mustang.  

The number of tourists visiting Mustang in this spring is more than those visiting the previous year. Foreign tourists who entered Mustang visited Jomsom, Muktinath and Lomanthang in Upper Mustang.

Lomanthang is known as a historical ancient settlement. According to the statistics provided by ACAP, 1,900 foreign tourists visited Lomanthang during this period. 

According to Ashok Subedi, the head of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project, Mustang, this year had witnessed a marked increase in the number of visitors in Mustang compared to last year. 

He said that 90 per cent of the tourists who entered Mustang were from India. 

According to him, the rise in visitors shows that tourism, which had slowed down because of the coronavirus pandemic, is gradually returning to the pre-COVID-19 situation. 

Subedi informed that the number of tourists who entered Mustang in the last five months is more than the number of tourists who entered the area in the corresponding period last year when only 27,003 tourists had reached there. 

According to him, the number of tourists to Mustang went up owing to positive publicity of the area around the globe. 

Tourists from around the world come to trek along the Annapurna Circuit to enjoy the natural beauty of Mustang, study the palace of the Mustangi King in Lomanthang and Tibetan art and culture, and pay homage to Muktinath, said Subedi. 

The hotel owners in Mustang are happy because of the rise of tourists. According to a report from the American news outlet CNN, since Mustang is on the list of places to visit in 2023, more foreign visitors are anticipated in the near future, said Subedi. 

Aitlal Thakali, Deputy Head of the District Coordination Committee of Mustang, said that the number of local tourists had increased in Mustang due to convenient access to road transportation, ideal hiking and sightseeing weather, well-equipped hotels, marketing initiatives, and infrastructure development. 

He said that it is expected the number of tourists would be increased in the coming days by developing a new route to replace the old footpaths that were destroyed because of the construction of the road, connecting the religious site Damodarkund to the road network, and emphasizing on the preservation of historically important monasteries, palaces and culture. 

It is necessary to complete the upgrading of the Beni-Jomsom-Korola Road to make the tourism sector of Mustang more viable. 

According to Deputy Chief Thakali, the identification, promotion, and conservation of new locations, and religiously and historically important places could lure more tourists. 

Bare landscape, beautiful mounatins, Himalayan weather, Thakali culture and lifestyle, ponds, monasteries, Muktinath Temple and caves are main attractions of Mustang.