JHAPA, Jan 3: The number of tourists from third countries entering Nepal through the land route via the Kakarvitta border point in 2024 has increased by more than 95 percent as compared to the preceding year.
According to Indra Kumar Rajbanshi, information officer of the Immigration Office, Kakarvitta, 6,111 tourists from third countries entered Nepal in 2024 through the border in eastern Nepal. In 2023, a total of 3,125 tourists from third countries had come 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 COVID-19 pandemic, India did not allow tourists from third countries to enter Nepal through Panitanki, the Indian border crossing at Kakarvitta, for no apparent reason. Therefore, tourists could not come to Nepal through the land route from India for a long time. India opened the Panitanki crossing for tourists only from August 1, 2024.
Kakarvitta border point opened for tourists from third-country...
Uday Kumar Shrestha, former chairman of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), Koshi Province Committee, said that the number of tourists coming to Nepal has increased with the opening of the Panitanki crossing.
"After the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, even though business transactions were opened at the border, the Indian barrier for tourists remained," he said, "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 through the Eastern border was more. In 2024, as many as 4,916 Bhutanese tourists entered Nepal through the land route from Kakarvitta, said Rajbanshi.
According to him, the number of Bhutanese nationals who entered Nepal through this land route in 2023 was only 2,931. Nepal has been granting a free entry permit (visa) for 30 days every year to tourists from SAARC countries.
