June  14: The Annapurna Circuit, a popular trek within the mountain ranges of western Nepal, is witnessing a decline in number of tourists lately, thanks to various factors like the onset of monsoon, road problems and off season for tourists.    
The trekking route is popular among both internal and foreign tourists. It links five districts but has witnessed barely 8 to 10 tourists on a daily basis against almost 200 visitors until a week ago, said Chhetra Bahadur Gurung, tourism assistant at the Dharapani tourism check centre under the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP).
The trekking route used to draw as many as 600 tourists daily in the past. But the number of visitors has declined significantly. As a result, tourism entrepreneurs who were hit hard by COVID-19 for a long period have faced another blow. The trek wore a deserted look for a long period of time (at least two years) due to the global COVID-19 crisis.    
"I used to earn around Rs 60,000 on a daily basis when there was a pressure of tourists. But, nowadays, income is almost like zero," complained a tourism entrepreneur, Pancha Bahadur Gurung of Lamjung Marsyangdi Rural Municipality-4.    
Another tourism entrepreneur Khus Bahadur Tamang used to make Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 daily until a few weeks back. He says the number of tourists has drastically gone down these days and he only makes Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 a day.    
The tourism sector which was hard-hit by COVID-19 pandemic and had just started to revive before the current setback. It looks like the trekking route is going to see only a few visitors for some more months with the start of the monsoon.    
The centre's records show that the highest number of tourists coming for trekking in this trail is from France, Germany, Italy and other countries. The number of tourists will start increasing after mid-August once the monsoon subsides.    
About 4,900 tourists have come for trekking till date since January this year, said Gurung, the tourism assistant at ACAP Tourism Checkpoint Dharapani.    
Tourists visit the Annapurna trekking route mainly for trekking purpose and also for sight-seeing, observing the local culture and tradition and to trek up to Mustang via the Thorang-La Pass of Manang and some travel on to Pokhara as well. The entry point of the Annapurna trekking route is at Manange Chautara of Besisahar municipality-7, Lamjung district.    
The route connects five districts- Lamjung, Kaski, Manang, Mustang and Myagdi. The visitors travel to Besisahar from Kathmandu by car or bus. -- RSS