(TibetanReview.net, Apr05’26) – To most Tibetans having any awareness about the place, Upper Mustang is a historically Tibetan area in Nepal where a clandestine guerrilla base was established in the early 1960s to launch cross-border attacks on the Chinese army, with aid from the CIA. The guerrilla was disbanded in the early 1970s. All this while, Upper Mustang remained banned for foreign visitors, imposed in 1962. The ban was partially lifted in 1992 to allow foreign tourists to visit the place. Local residents are now intensifying their call for full opening of this formerly independent Tibetan Kingdom of Lo.
Local representatives submitted a memorandum to outgoing Prime Minister Sushila Karki, urging the government to remove the region from the semi-restricted area list. They are following it up with the new, Balen Shah government, reported risingnepaldaily.com Apr 5.
Citing decades of restrictions that have limited foreign tourist arrivals, representatives have said they had repeatedly submitted memorandums to former Prime Ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Sher Bahadur Deuba and KP Sharma Oli over the past three decades, but received only assurances.
“Efforts to attract foreign tourists to Upper Mustang have not been fully successful so far. We are confident the new government will resolve these issues,” Tashi Nhervu Gurung, Chairperson of Lomanthang Rural Municipality, has said.
Lomanthang was the capital of the erstwhile Lo Kingdom.
He has added that tourism could significantly boost the local economy if visitors were charged a reasonable fee of USD 50 to 100 for a minimum 10-day visit, infrastructure at the Korala border point was improved, and easier cross-border movement to religious sites in Tibet was facilitated through immigration services.
Federal lawmaker Yogesh Gauchan Thakali has called the current, semi-restricted area rules discriminatory, preventing both Indian and third-country tourists from visiting Mustang from fully experiencing Upper Mustang, which is part of Gantaki province.
The report noted that while Mustang receives more than 100,000 foreign tourists annually, only around 4,000 manage to visit the restricted Upper Mustang region.
Raju Lalchan, President of the Mustang Chamber of Commerce and Industry, has said the restrictions are a major barrier, despite the fact that the Korala border route offers a shorter and more affordable path to Kailash-Mansarovar, a major pilgrimage site for Hindu and Buddhist devotees worldwide.
The report said Kathmandu has currently designated several areas, including Chhusang in Baragung Muktikshetra Rural Municipality-3 of Lower Mustang, and all wards of Lomanthang and Lo-Ghekar Damodarkunda rural municipalities in Upper Mustang bordering Tibet, as restricted zones due to security sensitivities.
The report noted that tourists visiting Upper Mustang are drawn not only to the Korala Tibet-border area but also to its ancient human settlements, caves, monasteries, the Lomanthang palace, traditional mud houses, and its unique Tibetan culture and way of life.