Surya Prasad Adhikari

May 26: More than 263,000 tourists visited the Chitwan National Park (CNP) in the current fiscal year (FY 2022/23). According to the park officials, 263,806 domestic and foreign tourists entered the park from last July to May this year.

The statistics of the CNP shows that most of the tourists visited the national park in the month of Kartik (mid-October to mid-November) of the current year and the least number of tourists visited in the month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September).

As per the data, 42,641 people visited the park in mid-October to mid-November while 8,880 people visited the park in mid-August to mid-September.

Similarly, 9,691 people visited the park in the month of Shrawn (mid-July to mid-August), 26,016 in Asoj (mid-September to mid-October), 22,008 in Mangsir (mid-November to mid-December) and 31,953 in Push (mid-December to mid-January). Similarly, 23,647 people visited the park in the month of Magh (mid-January to mid-February), 29,196 in the month of Falgun (mid-February to mid-March), 34,489 people in the month of Chaitra (mid-March to mid-April) and 37,285 people in the month of Baisakh (mid-April to mid-March).

Tourists have to pay the fee for the entrance, jeep safari and other activities. Nepali citizens have to pay a fee of Rs 150 per person to enter the national park while visitors from SAARC countries have to pay Rs 1,000 per person. Similarly, tourists from other countries have to pay Rs 2,000 per person to enter the park.

During the 10 months of the current fiscal year, the park has collected more than Rs 193.9 million from visitors. According to the CNP office, the national parks collects revenue from tourists' entrance fees and jeep safaris.

During the review period, the highest revenue worth Rs 25.2 million was collected in the month of Baisakh (mid-April to mid-May) and the lowest of Rs 4.8 million in Shrawn (mid-July to mid-August).

Ganesh Prasad Tiwari, information officer of the CNP, informed New Business Age that the revenue collection of the national park is less during the rainy season when the tourists do not visit the CNP.

“During the rainy season, there are less number of tourists and jeep rides are stopped and the revenue is also reduced,” said Tiwari.

According to Tiwari, the national park also earns revenue from other sources besides tourism activities. Accordingly, in the period of 10 months of the current FY, the park collected Rs 718,402 from the sale of timber, Rs 47.97 million from the sale of non-timber forest products, Rs 822,039 from fines, and Rs 1.52 under other headings.

Tiwari said that the park has collected a total of 244.9 million in 10 months of the current year under all these headings.