According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), arrivals from Asia (other than South Asia) recorded healthy growth of 46 percent during the period, thanks to robust growth of 145 percent from China. A total of 7,601 Chinese tourists visited Nepal in February. Likewise, arrivals from Malaysia and Singapore were up 288.1 percent and 111.9 percent, respectively. However, the number of tourists from Japan, South Korea and Thailand went down in February compared to last year. [break]
Arrivals from SAARC countries declined by 15.2 percent during the month largely due to drop in the number of Indian tourists. Nepal welcomed 9,069 Indian tourists in February, down by 18.2 percent compared to the figures of same period last year.
The number of tourists from European countries also went down by 5.5 percent to 10,184 in February. Though arrivals from Germany (8.3 percent) and the Netherlands (2.1 percent) increased during the review month, the number of tourists from UK, France, Italy, Switzerland and Russia went down by 6 percent, 13.7 percent, 31.8 percent, 8.7 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
However, arrivals from USA, Canada and New Zealand increased by 11.2 percent, 42.2 percent and 44.8 percent, respectively. However, arrivals from Australia were down 5.5 percent in February.
According to Immigration Office at Tribhuvan International Airport, a total of 87,839 foreign tourists visited Nepal over the first two month of 2013.
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