Four-star luxury property Aagantuk Resort has announced plans to upgrade to a five-star integrated resort-cum-casino township.

The resort, located in Banepa, said it plans to start work on the project soon.

The property is spread over 75 ropanis and currently has 52 rooms in operation.

“We are adding 16 additional rooms within 6-7 months,” said Krishna Prasad Gyawali, chairman of the resort.

The resort, with an investment of Rs2 billion, was opened in December 2019.

“After a few weeks of opening, Covid-19 started,” said Gyawali. “We have been hosting domestic visitors. 99 percent of our guests are domestic tourists,” he said, adding that few foreign tourists have started to come nowadays.

The resort is full on Friday and Sunday. On other days, according to the resort, it has a 55 percent occupancy rate.

Bimal Paudyal, resident manager of the resort, said that they have launched various promotional activities to draw domestic tourists. “We have rooms in three categories — deluxe, premium and Mughal.

The premium room costs Rs12,000 per night, a deluxe room is available at Rs20,000 per night and Mughal rates start from Rs9,500. “Our resort speciality is that we have rooms with private terraces to indulge in the scenic beauty of the place with a panoramic view of 22 Himalayan ranges,” said Paudyal.

Shanti Ratna Shakya, mayor of Banepa Municipality, said that they were planning to make Banepa one of the major tourist destinations within four years. “We have been working accordingly. We have many cultural and religious heritages that need to be promoted.”

He said that the municipality is also bringing schemes to draw investors in the hotel and resort. “We are investing heavily in the infrastructure, especially in the road infrastructure,” said Shakya. “We, however, are also facing the problem of pollution,” he said.