Mustang, 4 April: Less than nine months into the current fiscal year, 396,901 tourists have entered the religious and tourist district of Mustang. According to police statistics from Shrawan to Chaitra 18 of this year, the District Police Office has stated that the number of tourists entering Mustang, including domestic and foreign tourists, has reached this number.
Police Inspector Bishal Adhikari, Information Officer of the District Police Office, informed that 333,845 Nepali domestic tourists and 63,056 foreign tourists have entered Mustang since Shrawan of the current year. According to Police Inspector Adhikari, 238,354 male and 95,491 female domestic Nepali tourists have entered here since Shrawan of the current year. Similarly, 35,618 male and 27,438 female foreign tourists have visited Mustang.
With three months left in this fiscal year, 10,983 Nepali domestic tourists entered Mustang in Shrawan, 17,492 in Bhadra, 47,293 in Asoj, 99,176 in Kartik, 58,443 in Mangsir, 28,722 in Poush, 24,802 in Magh, 46,934 in Falgun and 44,806 as of Chaitra 18, according to the statistics of the District Police Office.
Similarly, 3,054 foreign visitors have visited the district in Shrawan, 6,347 in Bhadra, 12,538 in Asoj, 14,124 in Kartik, 7,464 in Mangsir, 6,835 in Poush, 3,456 in Magh, 9,238 in Falgun and 13,405 as of Chaitra 18. Police Inspector Bishal Adhikari said that 81 percent of Nepali domestic tourists and 19 percent foreign tourists have visited the district since Shrawan of the current year. According to him, 80 percent of the tourists entering Mustang are Indians and 20 percent are tourists from other countries.
According to the District Police Office, 454,326 Nepali domestic and foreign tourists visited Mustang in the fiscal year 2080/81. Of these, 354,927 domestic and 99,399 foreign tourists entered Mustang, according to police statistics.
Recently, as the road network has been gradually improving, the number of domestic and foreign tourists is increasing. Nepali domestic tourists have been flocking to the holy religious pilgrimage sites of Muktinath Dham and Kagbeni Shraddha Sthal in the district. Nepali tourists who enter Mustang visit Muktinath and then reach Korlanaka, which borders Tibet, an autonomous region of northern China.
Mustang is a religiously and culturally diverse district and the attraction of its unique geography has led to an increase in the number of tourists coming here every year. Lomanthang Rural Municipality Chairman Tasinarbu Gurung said that domestic tourists are reaching Koralana after the national pride Korala road became easier.
The district is becoming an important tourist destination due to the centuries-old monasteries, manes, chortens, monasteries, and historical and archaeological heritage and caves located in Mustang. In Upper Mustang, the palace of the seven-hundred-year-old Mustangi Cultural King, as well as dozens of religious monasteries associated with Guru Padyasambhava, have become centers of various research for tourists. Lopsang Chomphel Bista, Chairman of Loghekar Damodarkunda Rural Municipality, said that the arrival of domestic and foreign tourists here has been increasing every year to observe the religious and cultural heritage of Mustang, its lifestyle and the originality of local festivals.
