According to statistics of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), a total of 67,901 foreign tourists visited the country in October. Nepal had welcomed 73,264 foreign tourists in October 2011.[break]
Tourism entrepreneurs say sluggish economy in Europe - one of the major tourist generating markets for Nepal - is the major factor behind decline in the number of European visitors.
Suraj Lamichhane, deputy general manager of Sita World Travels, opined that although there was decline in some of the major segments, including India, there was no situation to panic as flow of tourists from new markets like South America and Russian region was looking good. “The overall business scenario looks promising as the revenue has gone up,” added Lamichhane.
Overall arrivals from Europe dropped by 17.5 percent during the review period, due to decline in tourist arrivals from the UK (9.3 percent), France (5.3 percent), Germany (19.2 percent) and Italy (23.2 percent).
“The decrease in the arrivals shows that global economic downturn has checked traveling spirit of international visitors from visiting the tourist destinations of choice,” NTB said in a statement.
Total tourist arrivals from South Asia, which contributes more than one-third of total arrivals, declined by 30.1 percent. The number of tourists from India dropped by 30 percent during the month compared to figures of October, 2011. Arrivals from Bangladesh and Pakistan also went down by 18.3 percent and 45.6 percent, respectively.
Interestingly, arrivals from Asia (other than South Asia segment) saw a positive growth of 4.9 percent during the review period. Despite that, the growth rate of Chinese tourist, one of the fastest growing markets for Nepal, was limited to less than 1 percent.
Thanks to beginning of new flights between Kathmandu and Kula Lumpur, the number of Malaysian tourists grew by 83 percent to 1,036 in October. Arrivals from Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand, however, witnessed negative growth during the month.
Total arrivals over the first 10 months of 2012 registered a growth of 11.5 percent compared to same period in 2011. More than 494,000 tourists have visited Nepal till October.
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