Kathmandu, July 10: Tourists on a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar via Nepal are bearing the brunt of a lengthy VISA verification process.
Nepali tour operators have complained that around 3000 tourists are stuck in Kathmandu as the Chinese Embassy is taking more than 10 days for VISA verification. The VISA process that used to take three days in the past is now taking 10 days with no guarantee of VISA approval, forcing tourists to wait for the Mansarovar pilgrimage in various hotels in Kathmandu.
Ramesh Ojha, Managing Director of Ojha Holiday Tours and Treks Pvt. Ltd., said that the new policy regarding VISA verification has put tourism entrepreneurs in trouble during the ‘ tourist season’.
To make matters worse, the recent floods in Rasuwa has forced tour operators to change the route to Mansarovar as the road via the Kerung route from Rasuwagadhi is shut. Majority of Indian tourists were going to Mansarovar via this route. High-spending tourists including citizens of Indian origin living in various countries however use air transport to reach Mansarovar via Simikot in Humla and from Kathmandu via Lhasa in China.
More than half a dozen tour operators including Ojha Holidays, Richa Travels and Tours, Eco Trek, Heritage Tours and Travel, Sunny Travel, Trekkers’ Society, and others are the most popular ones offering Kailash Mansarovar tour package for tourists.
Namaraj Joshi, the owner of Leisure Port in Mumbai, India, expressed concern over having to wait for VISA in Kathmandu for 10 days with a group of 39 people.
The issue had also been raised by Members of Parliament in the meeting of the House of Representatives, International Relations and Tourism Committee on July 6. They drew the attention of the Tourism Minister to the fact that hundreds of foreign nationals were waiting in hotels due to delays in the VISA process to Mansarovar. In response, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Badri Prasad Pandey had committed to taking initiatives with the Chinese Embassy through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the VISA process for tourists going to Mansarovar via Nepal.
Foreigners acquire entry permission from Lhasa, and get their VISA within three days of handing over the passport for verification. The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu does the VISA verification after the applicants arrive in person.
According to tour operators, that tourists going to Mansarovar in Tibet via Nepal account for about 20 percent of the total tourists going to the sacred Hindu religious site.
“We are the worst hit due to the delay in VISA verification as we have to manage the tourists’ lengthened stay, which is costing us more than what we earn by managing the running tour package,” complained Surya Pathak, Managing Director of Soham Journeys Pvt. Ltd.
Recalling that his company used to send 3,000 tourists in a season, Pathak said that this year it would barely reach 1,000 tourists. In 2019, the company had taken nearly 4,000 people on the Mansarovar Yatra.
The season for visiting Kailash Mansarovar is about five months from May to September. According to the Association of Kailash Tour Operators, an umbrella organisation of 30 tour operators, around 25,000 tourists visit Mansarovar via Nepal annually. Since the Nepalgunj-Simikot-Hilsa route is the closest to reach there a significant number of tourists prefer to use this route.
Tour companies have stated that it costs Indian citizens Rs. 250,000 to 300,000 and at least Rs. 1 million for non-resident Indians to visit Mansarovar. A large number of Non-resident Indians (NRIs) living in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia use Nepal as a transit to make a pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar.
