August 16: Of late, Manang district is becoming the preferred destination of foreign tourists visiting Nepal.

Majority of tourists visiting Nepal are found to have arrived here with the specific plan of visiting Manang district.

This place has become a favorite destination among the foreign tourists due to its organic food, natural landscape, cultural heritage and captivating environment.

According to the state-owned national news agency RSS, foreign tourists arrive here with an itinerary of visiting Manang. It has become the most preferred choice among the trekkers who come here to visit the Tilicho Lake, which is the highest-altitude lake in Nepal, and the Thorang-La Pass.

The arrival of tourists had come to a standstill for almost two years after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the arrival of tourists improved last year following a decline in infection rate. Thereafter, the number of tourists visiting Manang has also increased.

The number of tourists visiting Manang in Fiscal Year 2021/22 was higher than the number in FY 2020/21.

Out of the total 285,363 foreign tourists who arrived in Nepal during the last fiscal year (FY 2021/22), a total of 7,020 tourists visited Manang. Among them, 4,749 were male and 2,271 were female, informed Lekhnath Gautam, chief of the Annapurna Area Conservation Project (ACAP).

According to Gautam, most of the tourists visited Manang in the months of Kartik (mid-October to mid-November), Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April) and Baishakh (mid-April to mid-May). The data was based on the entry permits issued to the tourists at ACAP checkpoint in Dharapani, RSS reported.