JHAPA: The number of tourists from third countries entering Nepal from Kakadvitta, land route has increased. According to Indrakumar Rajbanshi, Information Officer of Immigration Office Kakadvitta, 6,111 tourists from third countries have entered Nepal in 2024.
In 2023, a total of 3,125 tourists from third countries came to Nepal through the border point.
Compared to the previous year, the arrival of tourists in 2024 has increased by 2,976 people. After the Corona pandemic, India did not allow tourists from third countries to enter Nepal through Panitanki, the Indian border crossing of Kakadvitta, for no apparent reason.
Therefore, tourists could not come to Nepal through the land route from India for a long time.
India opened Panitanki crossing for tourists only from August 1, 2024. Uday Kumar Shrestha, former chairman of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), Koshi Province Committee, says that the number of tourists coming to Nepal has increased with the opening of the Panitanki crossing. "After the end of the Corona pandemic, even though business transactions were opened at the border, the Indian barrier for tourists remained," he says, "After a high-level initiative, India allowed tourists to enter only in August.
After that, the tourist arrival has returned to its previous track. Until a few years ago, the number of Bangladeshi tourists coming to Nepal from East Asia was more. In 2024, 4,916 Bhutanese tourists entered Nepal through the land route from Kakadvitta, said Rajbanshi, the information officer of the Immigration Office.
According to him, the number of Bhutanese who entered Nepal through this land route in 2023 was only 2,931. Nepal has been granting free entry permit (visa) for 30 days every year to tourists from SAARC countries.
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