A total of 377,043 tourists visited Nepal via air in eight months
By TBN reporter-
Kathmandu: Around 377,043 tourists visited Nepal in the last eight months of 2012 via air, a growth of 16.3 per cent compared to a year ago.
The figures released by Immigration Office at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) reveal that international tourist arrivals to Nepal in January-August period of 2012 have risen to 377.043.Visitor arrivals in the month of August 2012, compared to the same month last year, have increased by 2.5% to 44,571.
According to NTB, the upward trend, which is already seen in January 2012, continues in the eight months of the year 2012 showing clearly the rising travel demand towards the destination.
Visitor arrivals from Bangladesh have gained positive growth along with Pakistan. However, arrivals from India, has recorded negative growth of 1.2 % with 14,307 visitors along with Sri Lanka (15.7%) compared to same month last year.
A robust growth of 21.7% has been observed in the arrivals from the South Asian region during the first eight months of 2012, in comparison to the same period last year.
Arrivals from Asia (other than South Asia region) have also recorded positive growth of 0.6%. Visitor arrivals from Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand have recorded positive growth whereas arrivals from China and Singapore have registered negative growths.
An overall positive growth has been observed from the European markets with arrivals from Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Russia and Sweden up . However, the arrivals from Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and UK have declined compared to the same month last year.
Tourist arrivals from Australia have increased while New Zealand, USA and Canada have decreased.
A total of 51,737 foreign tourists departed from TIA in August 2012. The number of Nepalese arrivals stood at 47,000 while 68,776 Nepalese departed from TIA in August 2012.
