According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), tourist arrivals from SAARC countries declined by 23 percent in November compared to the same month last year. Indian market, which holds nearly one third market share, declined by 21.6 percent. [break]
The scenario was similar in the month of October with arrivals from SAARC countries down by 28.5 percent. Indian market during that period compared to ago had declined by 30.1 percent.
Bharat Joshi, resident manager of Hotel Yak and Yeti said the casino package is the major attraction for Indian and Bangladeshi tourists. But arrivals from these two countries have gone down due to lack of proper casino management. Arrivals from Bangladesh witnessed a negative growth of 37.3 percent this month compared to the same period last year.
Joshi said outbound tourism of India has been focusing more on Malaysia lately. “The newly opened casinos of Goa are other attractions,” he said.
Likewise, the growth rate of arrivals from Europe merely stands at 3.1 percent as arrivals from France and Spain have declined.
Suraj Lamichhane, deputy General Manager of Sita World Travel said the major reason for decline in tourist arrivals is the prolonged economic crisis.
“Despite poor arrivals from Europe, we have observed robust growth in the American and Canadian segment,” he added. According to NTB, arrivals from Australia, New Zealand and the United States have registered positive growth of 29.5 percent, 30.5 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.
Joshi said the business of November was affected after the government had announced election for this month. “European tourists and travel agents book six months in advance and our political situation was not so favorable then,” he said. Joshi said despite poor arrivals the average rate was better than the previous year.
Lamichhane said the situation is getting better as we have not been receiving any enquires on security issues like before. “If there is no disturbance, tourist arrivals will be encouraging,” he added.
According to NTB, the aggregate growth from January to November stands at 11.5 percent compared to same period last year. Around 495,000 tourists visited Nepal during this period with a total of 59,411 arrivals in the month of November.
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