Tourist destinations empty during Dashain

By Shaligram Nepal,Chitwan, Oct. 17: Tourist destinations in Chitwan have been unusually quiet this Dashain holiday. The hotels in Sauraha, a major tourist hub in the district, are empty, and jungle safaris have been impacted. 

In the past years, this period (Dashain time) used to see an influx of domestic tourists owing to the school and college holidays for a longer period. Still, this year even normal tourist activity has not been seen, said Ganga Giri, President of the Regional Hotel Association, Sauraha.

While a few tourists occupy some hotels on the main road of Sauraha, the inner hotels remain vacant. Business owners who had hoped for a boom during Dashain time have been disappointed. 

Last year, it was difficult to find a room in Sauraha, but now the number of visitors has significantly dropped. “It seems like domestic tourism has almost come to a halt,” Giri said. He estimated that tourist arrivals have declined by more than 30 per cent this year.

The challenging road conditions from Kathmandu, Pokhara and Butwal may have contributed to this decline, Giri added. 

Deepak Bhattarai, former President of the Regional Hotel Association, Sauraha, said, hotels are empty and there are no bookings. “This kind of emptiness has never been seen before during the holidays,” he added.

Compared to previous years, there has been a more than 50 per cent drop in visitors, and some guests have cancelled their reservations, citing difficulties in arriving on time. “Poor road conditions have discouraged tourists from visiting Sauraha,” Bhattarai explained.

Jitu Tamang, President of the Bagmara Buffer Zone Community Forest, said, “This year, jungle safari numbers have dropped by 50 per cent, and even during the Dashain holiday, we have had to search for tourists.” As a result, the safari guides and staff have been left jobless, he added.

Manarup Chaudhary, Head of the Elephant Breeding Centre in the western part of Sauraha, said, “This year, very few people have come to visit the centre during the Dashain holiday. While hundreds used to visit daily, now we see only 8 to 10 visitors a day.”

Central President of the Hotel Business Association, Dinesh Kumar Chuke, said that the unoccupied hotel business this Dashain has severely impacted the industry. With fewer guests arriving in tourist areas and a drop in customer numbers even in hotels and restaurants, many new investors, especially those who took bank loans, are facing serious challenges. 

Tourists usually come to Chitwan after trekking in the hilly and Himalayan regions, but now it is no longer easy to reach Chitwan, Chuke explained. “That is why Dashain has not been as exciting here this year.”

Tourism entrepreneur Madhav Duwadi said, “We have not seen such a quiet Dashain since the COVID-19 pandemic. Domestic tourists and events have stopped, and foreign tourists are also not coming. 

Indian and Chinese tourists, who usually visit, are unable to get flight tickets, and the difficult road conditions have worsened the situation.”