Sunday, July 31, 2011

Rise in tourist flow increases national park's revenue

Chitwan National Park collected about Rs 22.5 million more in the fiscal year 2010/11 in comparison to that of 2009/10 due to the rise in the number of tourists visiting the place.

According to the information provided by the national park, the total revenue collected from the entrance fee to the park was Rs 83.14 million in the fiscal year 2010/11. The amount was 61.01 million in the fiscal year 2009/10.

One entrance ticket is valid for only a day, and if visitors want to reenter the park next day, they have to purchase another ticket.

“The total number of tickets issued in the last fiscal year was 46,662 units whereas in the fiscal year before that, the number of tickets issued were only 15,181 units,” said Tika Ram Poudel, assistant warden of the national park. About 50 percent of the revenue collected from the national park is invested in the development of buffer zone.

Entrance fee is Rs 500 for foreigners, Rs 200 for tourists from SAARC countries and Rs 20 for Nepali nationalities. In the fiscal year 2010/11, 90,722 foreigners, 16,005 visitors from SAARC countries and 31,309 Nepali visited the national park.

A significant increase was recorded in the number of visitors from all categories as the visitors in the fiscal year 2009/10 were 72,993 foreigners, 10,899 people from the SAARC countries and 31,309 Nepalis.

“Even though the number of visitors has increased, it was not as high as expected from the Tourism Year 2011,” many stakeholders related with the business said. Government had aimed to attract about one million tourists in the Tourism Year, among which about 300,000 tourists were expected to visit Chitwan National Park.

The national park has some endangered as well as rare species of birds and animals like one horned Asiatic Rhino, Royal Bengal Tiger and other birds and reptiles which are the attracting factors of the place. The place has about 70 lodges and resorts..

No comments: