Pokhara is the second major tourist destination after Kathmandu. Situated approximately 200 km west of Kathmandu, Pokhara originally served as a trading post between Tibet and India prior to the Chinese invasion to Tibet. Though its geographical location proved significant in terms of connectivity, the town could be reached by foot thereby creating a similar sense of mysticism to Kathmandu.
After the first road to Pokhara was built in 1968, tourism followed, and with time Pokhara Tourism industry grew; in part to its natural landscape and splendor more than for its cultural of historical importance. Pokhara valley is blessed with snow-capped Annapurna Range to the north and beautiful lakes of Phewa, Begnas and Rupa. Phewa Lake, in particular, serves as a popular accommodation site for hotels and restaurant catering to visitors on the half a dozen trekking routes into the surrounding mountains, including Annapurna Base camp and Mustang.
In the wake of Maoist insurgency and the tourism sector reaching an all time low in the March-April 2005 season, hotel revenues fell sharply as owners frantically slashed so they could at least meet overhead costs. Hotel revenues are estimated to have fallen 70 percent as a result. With such low earnings, most have found it difficult to cover their staff salaries and have reduced employment levels.
Meanwhile proliferation of numerous hotels and restaurant around Phewa lake has left a detrimental impact on natural environment; most obvious being the pollution of the lake itself. Phewa Lake is shrinking and its retreating shoreline is troubling the tourist industry of Pokhara. Locals believe that since its original size, between a third and a half of water mass has been lost. The fact that some 11,000 ropanies of land that once used to be lake bed has now been passed on as private property and turned into fields of housing is a concern. The land which should rightly be public property is now private property.
