POKHARA, April 8: The number of tourists has increased in the touristic capital city Pokhara. As the eve of the Nepali New Year is near, the number of domestic and foreign tourists visiting the lake city has been increasing. With this, the tourism business and other activities in Pokhara have started regaining momentum. Seeing the progress in the city's tourist movement, tourism entrepreneurs are optimistic.

Lakshman Subedi, President of Pokhara Hotel Association, said that the number of guests in hotels here has reached 50 percent of late. "On Friday-Saturday, the occupancy of the hotels reaches 60 percent," he said, "We expect it to reach 90 percent during the New Year."

The occupancy of hotels in Pokhara was limited to less than ten percent from December to January, which is considered to be the 'off season' for tourism. Subedi further expects that the number of tourists will increase as the '19th Phewa New Year Festival' is being organized at Lakeside targeting the New Year 2081 BS.

Subedi said that a 30 percent discount has been arranged for hotels during the festival. According to him, the hotels in Pokhara can accommodate 40,000 tourists daily. "Currently, there are only 20,000 domestic and foreign tourists in Pokhara daily", he said, "To fill more than 1,200 hotels here, 40,000 tourists should visit Pokhara every day."

Hotel entrepreneurs have expressed joy at the resurgence of tourism after a long time, though other entrepreneurs are waiting for a good day soon.

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