Manungkot sees decreasing inflow of tourists

KATHMANDU: Manungkot, an emerging tourism hub located at Byas Municipality-5 in Tanahun, now has witnessed a declining number of visitors.

The area had come to a wider publicity amidst the COVID-19 pandemic time. There used to be a large inflow of tourists to the area from different districts of the country. With the passage of time, the attractive tourist destination has lost its popular image.

Especially during the winter months, tourists turn up Manungkot to see foggy ambience and sunshine. Byas-5 ward chair Bishnu Kumar Shrestha said there was a crowd of tourists in Manungkot in the winter season. “Manungkot is special in the winter times. Tourists from different areas throng the place to enjoy panoramic foggy surroundings and sunshine”, he shared.

There is a nominal number of tourists ascending to Manungkot in other seasons, he said, adding daily hundreds of tourists arrived here to take joy of the special touristic place in the cold season.

The trend of establishing new hotels has increased with the rise in the mobility of tourists in Manungkot. He said, “The municipality has also been effortful to promote tourism in Manungkot. Ultra Marathon tournament has been taking place from Manungkot to Pulimarang every year”.

One can enjoy the scenic beauty of the Himalayas, including Dhaulagiri, Machhapuchhre, Annapurna, Manaslu, Lamjung Himal from Manungkot.

Even local people reach Manungkot in the morning in the winter times to get warm as sunshine is early in the altitudinal area.

With the tourism place drawing increasing attraction of tourists, the folks who descended to city had also started doing business in Manungkot again.

The local people had left their village due to water crisis. Manungkot now has become an alternative to the processed jar water and tanker-transported water in the city area.

Basanti Thapa, who left Manungkot in 2052 BS due to water crisis, now is running a hotel in the same place. She said her family returned to Manungkot with the increase in the inflow of tourists here.

The road to Manungkot has been blacktopped. It was done with the financial investment of the Ministry of Urban Development. The 4300-meter road from Alaiinche to Manungkot has been blacktopped, it was shared.