April 9: The number of tourists visiting Pokhara has increased in recent days. As the eve of Nepali New Year is just around the corner, domestic and foreign tourists are thronging the lake city which was recently declared as the tourism capital. With it, tourism business and other activities in Pokhara have started regaining momentum. Tourism entrepreneurs are optimistic with the progress in tourists' activities in the city.    

Lakshman Subedi, president of Pokhara Hotel Association, said that the number of guests in hotels here has reached by 50 percent of late. "The occupancy of hotels reaches 60 percent on Fridays and Saturdays," he said, adding, "We expect it to reach 90 percent during the New Year."    

The occupancy of hotels in Pokhara was limited to less than ten percent in December to January, which is considered as the 'off season' for tourism. Subedi further expects that the number of tourists to increase as the '19th Phewa New Year Festival' is being organized at Lakeside targeting the New Year 2081 BS.    

Subedi said that a 30 percent discount has been arranged for hotels during the festival. According to him, the hotel in Pokhara has the capacity to accommodate 40,000 tourists daily. "Currently, there are only 20,000 domestic and foreign tourists in Pokhara on a daily basis," he said, "To fill more than 1,200 hotels here, 40,000 tourists should visit Pokhara every day."    

 Basically, hotel entrepreneurs have expressed joy at the resurgence of tourism after a long time. -- RSS