November 14: The tourist sites in Bhaktapur Municipality in Bhaktapur district were deserted for nearly two years due to COVID-19 pandemic.    
As the COVID-19 pandemic is winding down and the vaccination drive has been stepped up, as well as the ease in international travel restrictions, more and more people have started travelling. Travel and tourism is gradually reviving.    
Bhaktapur Municipality used to welcome around 3,000 foreign tourists on a daily basis prior to the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.    
During the COVID-19 crisis, the tourist sites in Bhaktapur did not see a single footfall of the foreign tourists. Lately, 60 to 90 foreign tourists visit Bhaktapur, according to Bhaktapur Municipality's chief of information centre, Gautam Lasiba.    
Health safety protocols have been put in place against COVID-19 for safe tourism. The Municipality had collected around Rs 260 million as revenue from tourists in 2019/20 BS, said Lasiba, adding that only Rs 2.9 million was collected in the last fiscal year 2020/21.    
In August, 228 tourists visited Bhaktapur, 380 in September, 964 in October and 1,923 as of November 12 this year.    
The local government has been stepping up reconstruction of the quake-damaged historical monuments for attracting tourists in the medieval town. -- RSS