सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Myagdi. More than 4,000 tourists visited Upper Mustang in 2024. The Lomanthang office of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) has reported a 14.20 percent increase in tourist arrivals in 2024 compared to 2023. Office chief Umesh Poudel said that 3,484 foreign tourists visited here in 2023, while 4,061 foreigners visited Upper Mustang in 2024.
According to him, the increase in tourist arrivals here is due to the expansion of the road network, inclusion of the Annapurna Circular Trek in the world’s top ten destinations, publicity, digital marketing, operation of comfortable hotels, and the introduction of an online route permit system. According to the ACAP office, 3,112 foreign tourists visited Upper Mustang in 2022, 332 in 2021, 62 in 2020, and 3,918 in 2019. The highest number of foreign tourists visited Upper Mustang in 2017 was 4,115, according to office chief Poudel.
Artistic mountains, desert-like geography, houses made of mud, Himalayan lifestyle, ancient Tibetan culture, historically important palaces, monasteries, chortens, and Korla border crossing are the attractions of Upper Mustang. Damodarkunda, a common pilgrimage site for Buddhists and Hindus, is also located in Upper Mustang.
The government has designated Lomanthang in Mustang, Loghekar in Damodarkunda, the former Chhusang Village Development Committee of Waragung Muktikshetra Rural Municipality-3, and Sangta in Waragung Muktikshetra-5, which border the autonomous region of Tibet in China, as prohibited areas due to security concerns. Some areas of Manang and Gorkha are also included in the prohibited areas.
There is a rule that non-Nepalese people must obtain a special permit for 10 days from the Immigration Department by paying a fee of five hundred US dollars to visit Upper Mustang. ACAP chief Poudel informed that tourists will have to pay an additional fee of $50 per day for visits exceeding ten days. Tourists have been banned from going above Nechung in Lomanthang Rural Municipality-1. Since 1992, the government had made arrangements for foreigners to visit Upper Mustang for a certain period of time by paying a fixed fee with a permit.
Lomanthang Rural Municipality Chairman Tasinarbu Gurung said that the high fee required to be paid in the restricted area has affected the lives and economic activities of the locals. He said that they are requesting the provincial and federal governments to provide some exemptions in the fees in the restricted area, and that the economic level of the locals will improve with the increase in tourist arrivals.
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