Foreign tourists surpass domestic tourists in numbers at CNP

Over Rs 100 million of revenue has been collected from 72,000 tourists visiting Chitwan National Park. A total of 72,461 people visited the park from mid-July to mid-December in the current fiscal year.

According to CNP's Information Officer and Conservation Officer Avinash Thapa Magar, the foreigners surpassed the domestic tourists in terms of visiting the park. The number of foreign tourists visiting the CNP during the reporting period was 33,730 while domestic tourists according to the record were 32,880.

According to him, 5,851 tourists from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries visited the park during the period.

He further shared that revenue worth Rs 106.71 million was collected from domestic and foreign tourists visiting the park in the last five months.

Meanwhile, during this period, the park has released 41 gharial crocodiles reared at Gharial Breeding Center Kasara in the natural habitat. According to Officer Magar, 40 females and one male were released into the Rapti River three different times.

According to him, the park has been holding meetings and preparing action plans in collaboration with the locals for wildlife protection and poaching prevention.

Stating that the number of rhinos has increased in the western part of the park, he said preparations have been put in place to relocate them to the eastern region.

The relocation, he argued, is necessary for the conservation of rhinos in view of threats posed by flooding in the Narayani River.

Also present in the interaction as part of the preparation for internal relocation of rhinos were senior ecologist at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Haribhadra Acharya, Chitwan National Park Office Senior Conservation Officer Dr Ganesh Panta, battalion commander of the new Gorakh Battalion, Divisional Forest Officer, Chairs of the Buffer Zone Users Committees, tourism committee officials as well as businesspersons and representatives of the local level.