April 18: The arrival of foreign tourists has started to increase in the Annapurna Circuit. According to the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP)’s Tourist Check Point at Dharapani, around 100 to 150 foreign tourists are visiting the area on a daily basis.

Kshetra Bahadur Gurung, tourism assistant at the check point, said that there were few tourists on this trail until a few weeks ago, but now the number has been increasing.

“Until a few weeks ago, around 40 to 50 tourists used to visit this region daily, but the number has increased to 150 people a day,” he said.

In the previous years, up to 500 people used to arrive in this region daily. Even though not so many tourists have arrived here at the moment, Gurung says that the number of tourists is increasing compared to a few weeks ago. Tourism entrepreneurs expect the number of tourists to increase further.

Mekh Bahadur Gurung, a tourism entrepreneur from Masryangdi Rural Municipality-4, said that the business of the hotels was slow due to the lack of tourists. “But now, the daily income has started to increase.”

According to tourism entrepreneur Pancha Bahadur Gurung, hundreds of hotel businesses are operating around this foot trail.

ACAP officials said that most of the tourists visiting this area are from France and Germany.

Meanwhile, the tourism entrepreneurs have been demanding for arrangements to allow tourists visit Annapurna region without a guide.

Stakeholders in the Annapurna Circuit are preparing to submit a memorandum to the bodies concerned such as the District Administration Office Lamjung, Masryangdi Rural Municipality, demanding arrangements for tourists to visit the Annapurna Circuit without a tourist guide.

Khushiram Gurung, vice president of the Manang-Lamjung Hotel Business Committee, said, “The decision of TAAN taken some time ago for tourists to mandatorily have a guide has had an adverse impact. Lone tourists stopped coming while the business has also started to decline. So, we are preparing to submit a memorandum to various bodies to withdraw that decision.”

The entrance to the Annapurna Circult begins from Bensisahar in Lamjung. This foot trail covers five districts namely Lamjung, Manang, Mustang, Myagdi and Kaski.