October records highest number of tourists despite no improvement in tourism business

Published On: November 3, 2023 08:30 PM NPT By: Enika Rai

KATHMANDU, Nov 3: Recently, there has been a significant increase in the arrival of tourists in the country. With a significant increase in tourist arrivals in the country, the number of tourist arrivals in the month of October has set a new record. In the month of October 2023, 117,306 tourists entered Nepal via air. According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the number of tourists who entered Nepal in this month is the highest in history.

According to the NTB, 113,000 tourists entered Nepal in the month of October 2019. In the month of October 2019, the record was broken by the number of tourists who entered the country in the month of October this year.

Maniraj Lamichhane, director of the NTB, said that since it is the peak month of tourist arrivals and an international conference is also held this month, a significant amount of tourists have entered the country. He said, "This month is also the main season for tourists , that’s why the number has increased." He added, "Along with the tourist season, gatherings of non-resident Nepalis also contributed to the increase in this number."

Autumn (September, October and November) is the peak tourist season and the non-residential international conference held from October 17 to 20 has also increased the number of tourists in this month.

Even if we look at the statistics of the last three months, the number of tourist arrivals has gradually increased. Last July, 57,726 tourists entered the country. Similarly, in July 2019, as many as 58,811 tourists entered the country. In terms of numbers, there was a revival of tourist arrivals by 98.2 percent post-Covid-19 pandemic.

Last August, 67,153 tourists entered the country by air. In August 2019, the number of tourists entering the country by air was 73,816 people. After COVID, there was a resurgence in tourist arrivals, with an increase of 90.98 percent in August.

Similarly, in the month of September, 91,012 tourists entered Nepal by air. In September 2019, as many as 92,604 tourists entered the country by air. This number is a 98.28 percent increase in tourist arrivals compared to 2019.

Director Lamichhane said that the number of tourist arrivals since 2019 should be considered encouraging. Tourist arrivals, which had recovered by 98.98 percent in the month of August, had recovered by 98.28 percent in the month of September. And a new record has been set in the month of August in the steadily increasing tourist arrivals. In the month of August, compared to 2019, it is more than 130 percent.

Pointing out that the recent war between Israel and Hamas has also affected the tourism sector of Nepal, director Lamichhane said, “Despite various problems, the number of tourists entering the country is encouraging.”

According to the board, this month too, the largest numbers of tourists have come from the neighboring country of India. 18,480 tourists have entered Nepal from India. America is in second place after India. 14,879 tourists have entered Nepal from America this month.

Similarly, in third place is the UK. There are 8,217 tourists in Nepal from the UK. 6,880 are from China, 6,775 are from Australia, 5,916 are from Germany, 5,271 are from France, 4,292 are from Bangladesh, 2,507 are from Sri Lanka, and 2,467 tourists have arrived from Italy in Nepal.

The government has set a target of one million tourist arrivals in 2023. According to the statistics of the board, nearly 9 million tourists have entered the country during the 10 months of this year. Director Lamichhane said that due to the significant arrival of tourists in the country, the tourism business has not improved as expected by the businessmen. He said that because the current tourism infrastructure has advanced much further than before Covid-19 pandemic, the businessmen have not been able to revive it as expected and said, "After Covid-19 pandemic, tourism infrastructure has become much more advanced. We now have two more international airports. However, we have not been able to operate regular international flights. Similar problems persist. But the influx of tourists is encouraging. Other aspects are gradually improving."