Come 1 January 2001 and Western tourists visiting Bhaktapur will have to shell out an entrance fee that is 14 times more than that what South Asian tourists have to pay. A recent decision by the municipality plans to raise the fee from the present $5 to $10 for Westerners and from Rs 30 to Rs 50 for SAARC nationals. Explaining its decision, the municipality said the hike is designed to take into account the appreciation of the US dollar vis-?-vis the Nepali rupee. Last year Bhaktapur raised Rs 46.13 million in tourism fees.