GORKHA, Nov 7: A quiet place otherwise, Gorkha this year is receiving great number of tourists. With the commencement of education tour season, queues of students of different age groups are seen in Gorkha Durbar and other sites from  dawn to dusk. Along with them, tourists are swarming here with daily visitor number tally reaching 3000 to the maximum. Managing this crowd has been hard for the hoteliers though they are doing brisk business. 

“When we read in books, it is difficult for us to visualize. But when we come here and see things for ourselves, it's a totally different experience. It's simply thrilling,” said Junu Rai a student currently on an education tour in Gorkha. She added that she had wished that she could visit Gorkha when she read about Gorkha Darbar, late king Prithivi Narayan Shah and Ram Shah, among others, in her text books. 

She said that the most memorizing thing in her book were the stories about Prithivi Narayan Shah, his life and the challenges he faced in his life. “Reading about the journey of Prithivi Narayan Shah's life gives us goose bumps. Since reading about him, I have always wanted to visit Gorkha Darbar.”Students in tour this week stated that Gorkha museum, palace and the natural beauty left them spellbound. Meanwhile, teachers who accompanied them also said that the tour was important to make the students understand the history that they read in text books. “Visual memory is more powerful. So, we had planned this visit with much priority,” said a teacher, Ashok Rai. “Gorkha educational tour is in fact an annual event in our school calendar. It has always been very rewarding for the students.”

Rai further stressed that every school must keep educational tour to Gorkha as a priority event. Since King Prithivi Narayan Shah and Gorkha remains the most important chapter in the history of Nepal, students' visit to Gorkha is equally important, too, he said. 

 Tourists walk towards the Gorkha Palace, Gorkha in these recent photos.

According to staffs at the Gorkha museum, schools bring their students to Gorkha every year. Post Dashain and Tihar, the flow is really impressive, they said. “However, last year, obviously, the visits got affected. 

Earthquakes last April had devastated Gorkha and such educational tours, which often take place around October / November, were cut down almost by half,” said Durga Prasad Chaudhari, a staff at the museum. “This year, the crowd is back again.” 


 

Things have changed this year. Pretty impressive numbers of visitors have been visiting here and we are hopeful that tourism will bloom here once again.

--    Ganesh Prasad Bhattarai, senior official at the Gorkha Palace

 

Chaudhari informed that 500 to 3000 people are visiting Gorkha every single day these days. “At least those many are coming to the museum,” he said. He added that it generally takes 3 - 4 hours to visit the museum, palace and Gorakhnath temple. 

According to Chaudhari, not being able to hold the visitors for long hours is preventing the locals from taking maximum benefits from the tourists. “If we could extend their stay for a few days or longer hours, it would massively contribute towards generating employment and subsequent development in this area,” he said calling on local stakeholders and government to bring plans to boost tourism in the district. 

“We don't have lot of sites or things to attract visitors. But with little effort, like by fixing view tower and developing picnic spots, we could make a difference. Fresh efforts must be focused on engaging tourists for longer hours and stay,” said Chaudhari. 

“Assumption among people that the old palace might have suffered damages and visiting it could be risky might have prevented people from stepping in the palace last year,” Ganesh Prasad Bhattarai, senior official at the Gorkha Palace, said. “However, things have changed this year. Pretty impressive numbers of visitors have been visiting here and we are hopeful that tourism will bloom here once again.”

 
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