Tourist arrival down in Lumbini

By Laxman Paudel,Bhairahawa, Jan. 3: Despite strong figures at the national level, tourism in Gautam Buddha's birthplace of Lumbini has not recovered to pre-pandemic numbers yet. In 2019, the year before the COVID-19 entered Nepal, a total of 1,558,326 Nepali and foreign nationals came here. In 2023, only 998,938 did. 

Lumbini saw almost no tourists in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak. But, as the epidemic began to wane in 2022, visitor numbers started to climb. But they still have not reached the 2019 level.

This is because domestic tourists have seemed reluctant to return. 2019 saw 1,178,140 Nepalis come to Lumbini. But this number decreased by 45 per cent in 2023. Only 656,218 Nepalis visited last year.

Tourist arrivals from third countries (countries other than India) have also decreased by 56 per cent. A total of 174,015 third country-citizens arrived in Lumbini in 2019 while 76,210 arrived in 2023. These are the figures recorded around 2007. However, 2023 saw the highest Indian tourist arrivals on record. Lumbini welcomed 266,510 Indians last year, 230,863 in 2022 and 206,171 in 2019. 

Meanwhile, the number of tourists viewing the third largest peak of the world, Kanchanjungha, also declined sharply owing to growing chill of late. Tourism entrepreneur Pema Sherpa informed that the area witnessed severe cold for some days, resulting into decline in tourists' arrival. However, they had not witnessed snowfall this year. 

The hotel and lodges are closed after not getting visitors. The hoteliers of Kanchanjungha area have shifted down to Phungling, while some to Kathmandu city to avoid cold. The Kanchanjungha area had arrival of huge number of tourists before cold, according to Tasi Tenjing Sherpa, a person affiliated to the Kanchanjungha Conservation Area Management Council. "Since last Asoj to Poush, the area had recorded entry of 760 tourists from different countries. It was highest number of tourist inflow since the COVID-19," he reminded.