Hotels en route ABC want permission for more rooms

Kathmandu, Nov. 16: As the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) route is witnessing the highest flow of trekkers in history this year, the local hotel and hospitality entrepreneurs have demanded to increase the number of hotels and rooms.

Tej Gurung, proprietor of Hotel Paradise Garden and Restaurant at the ABC, said that the rooms were not sufficient for the peak season.

“The four hotels and lodges at the ABC have the capacity of 150 tourists, and we can accommodate maximum 200 people,” he said.

 He is hopeful that the government would soon make arrangements to accommodate more tourists in the ABC route, including the Base Camp.

As there were concerns for the environmental aspects, the government was hesitating to issue licenses for the new hotels in the ABC route.

But, Purna Gurung, who owns Bamboo Lodge and Restaurant in Bamboo, seeing the number of increased tourists there was no alternative to adding hotel rooms in the trekking route.

Tourists capturing view of sunrise at the ABC. Photo: Mod Dhakal

Chhomrong, the entry point of ABC in Kaski district has about two dozens of lodges and hotels but beyond it, there are about four hotels in every stop at the distance of 1 hour to 2 hours walk.

These hotels can accommodate 200 individuals maximum.

Netra Sharma, In-Charge at the Tourists Check Post Office Chhomrong which is under the ACAP Area Conservation Office Ghandruk, said that a three-member committee had been studying the matter, and the hotels in the route are likely to get permission to construct additional rooms.

“The growing number of tourists has pressurized to increase the number of rooms en route. The process to issue licenses will move forward after the provincial and federal elections,” he said.

According to the hotel entrepreneurs, the government is mulling to allow each hotel to build additional six rooms.

Sharma said that many tourists complained about the lack of availability of hotel rooms.

He indicated that the government might also allow community lodges instead of individual ones.

According to the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), the number of trekkers in the world-famous trekking-route through Chhomrong of Kaski district might be up by as much as 25 per cent in 2017.

Tourists on the way to ABC. Photo: Mod Dhakal

Up to November 10 this year, 26,266 foreign trekkers had been to the ABC.

Along with them 1,611 domestic tourists, 5,600 guides and more than 8,300 porters also reached the area so far.

The ABC Trekking had welcomed a record number of tourists – 22,108 – last year which was up by about 38 per cent compared to 2015.

Due to the devastating Gorkha Earthquake, the number of tourists had nosedived in 2015.

Sharma said that the number of the tourists in the Annapurna Circuit, that includes, Kaski, Myagdi, Lamjung and Mustang district, might reach 130,000 by the end of 2017.

Last year, 114,187 tourists had reached the Annapurna Region while about 78,930 trekkers visited the area.

“The number of trekkers on the ABC route was 4,500 in last October which has reached 6,369 this year. Due to the national holidays in China, South Korea and Nepal at the same time in October contributed to the increased number of tourists,” Sharma said.

According to him, the number of Nepali trekkers has surged in the recent years.

There was a higher flow of trekkers in the months of March, April, May, September, October and November.

Gurung said that about 25 per cent trekkers complete the ABC trekking from Chhomrong in 3 camp days.

Senior citizens complete the route in as much as 13 days. 

(Published in The Rising Nepal Daily, 2017 November 17).