By Shanta Adhikari

Bharatpur, Mar. 15 : Number of people visiting Sauraha in Chitwan has increased during the holiday seasons. However, the tourism sector has still been facing a drought of foreign tourists.

According to Deepak Bhattarai, president of the Regional Hotel Association, Sauraha, more tourists have visited Sauraha this week. The association had reached Eastern Nepal with the package “Visit Sauraha” some time ago to promote tourism in Sauraha.

He claims that the rise in domestic tourists is due to the package. He said that the capacity of the hotel was not enough for the visitors during the weekend, adding, "We have been struggling to accommodate tourists who have not booked for the weekend."

Babita Chaudhary, joint secretary of the association, said that the business, which was hampered by COVID-19, had gained some hope in recent days. She said that the number of people coming to celebrate the holiday was higher than in other weeks due to continuous holidays since Friday, March 5.

The number of local tourists has increased due to the Women's Day holiday on Monday.
With more than 165 small and large tourist hotels, Sauraha can accommodate more than 4,000 people a night.

Due to COVID-19, the hotel, which was completely closed from March 29, 2020, was open only for 12 days in July 2020 and was closed immediately. The positive symptoms have been seen since the Dashain festival and after the launch of the package.

Entrepreneurs from Sauraha have visited many parts of the country with various programmes with the package. Bhattarai said, "We have come here from a journey to the east, now we are preparing for the journey to the west."

He said that the association has concluded that domestic tourists can regain the hotel business until the arrival of foreign tourists.

He said that while the fear of COVID-19 was still there, all the professionals were instructed to pay attention to health security and were alerted in case of any complaint.