Mustang, Aug 23: Tourism entrepreneurs as well as the people in general of Mustang are enthusiastic by Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s trip to their district. The trip by the Head of the Government, though a private one, has brought the region back into the spotlight.
Prior to this, erstwhile Prime Minister Sushila Karki also visited the Muktinath area on a Nepali Army helicopter via the Kathmandu-Pokhara route.
However, Prime Minister Shah travelled to Mustang by road. He himself drove using the Beni-Jomsom Roadway after spending a night at Astam of Pokhara. He left for Kathmandu from Mustang on Sunday.
Locals including tourism entrepreneurs are hopeful that the Prime Minister’s visit will provide a significant boost to the region’s tourism industry.
Chairperson of the Mustang Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Raju Prasad Lalchan, said that they expect the Prime Minister’s visit to greatly contribute to the promotion of tourism in the region. “Wherever the Prime Minister visits, the tourism sector of that area receives significant attention,” Lalchan said. “We believe that his visit to Mustang, including Muktinath, will further promote religious tourism in the region.”
The Prime Minister’s first domestic visit began from Mutkinath and travelling to Mustang by road was particularly significant. He expressed hope that the Prime Minister would pay greater attention to improving road infrastructure connecting the Muktinath and other parts of the district.
“The Beni-Jomsom road is in a mess. The Prime Minister experienced it directly,” said Chair Lalchan, underlining the need for its enhancement as it is widely used by people from a larger part of the world.
He added that activating the immigration office at the Korala checkpoint and providing passport-related services could significantly transform Mustang’s tourism sector by facilitating religious pilgrimages to the Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet.
Likewise, Muktinath Hotel Association Chair Suraj Gurung said the Prime Minister’s Mustang visit is significant for the district.
He recalled that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s paying homage to the Muktinath Temple in May of 2018 was followed by a significant rise in the number of Indian pilgrims visiting the Muktinath Temple.
The then President Bidya Devi Bhandari had also visited the Muktinath Temple in 2021.
