NARAYANGHAT, Oct 16: The Chitwan National Park has started an e-ticketing (electronic ticket) system that allows tourists to buy entry tickets online.
With this, tourists visiting the national park will be able to complete the entry process by buying tickets from home.
In the first phase, arrangements have been made to buy tickets online from the Sauraha area. Depending on the results of this trial, it is said that the service will be expanded to other park entry points as well.
Earlier, tourists and tourism entrepreneurs had to be physically present and pay cash to get the entry tickets. Online services are expected to reduce the time and hassle of buying tickets.
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On Thursday, the MP from Chitwan Constituency No. 1, Hari Dhakal, and the chairperson of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee, along with Dil Bahadur Purja Pun, the senior conservation officer of CNP, inaugurated the e-ticketing system.
Senior Conservation Officer of the National Park, Pun, said that the administration has been trying to launch e-ticketing service for a long time. He mentioned that after e-ticketing was started in Shivapuri National Park, the need for it has also been felt in Chitwan.
"About 70 to 75 percent of Chitwan National Park's revenue comes from the Sauraha area, and in the same proportion, tourists enter the park from this area, so e-ticketing service has been started from Sauraha area," he added.
He mentioned that with the new system in place, tourists will be able to complete the entry process by booking tickets from home. He also said that tutorials on how to use the system will be posted on the park's Facebook page and website.
MP Dhakal said that starting the e-ticketing system in Sauraha was possible thanks to the tourism entrepreneurs and his continuous efforts. He mentioned that he has been regularly pushing for this issue over the past six months since taking office for his second term.
The park office has stated that Nepali tourists have to pay Rs 150 per person per day for park entry, tourists from SAARC countries have to pay Rs 1,000, and other foreign tourists have to pay Rs 2,000.
Tourist jeeps have to pay a fee of five thousand rupees when entering the park for the first time.
The park has stated that once tourists fill in the necessary details and complete the process, a QR code will be generated, and one can enter the park by showing that code.
In the last fiscal year, 272,923 tourists visited Chitwan National Park and the nearby community forests. The previous fiscal year, this number was 231,329. The park reported that it collected Rs 276 million in revenue from tourism last year.