Foreign tourist arrivals to Nepal up 32.8 percent in January- November 2016
TravelBiz News —–
Kathmandu: Tourist arrivals to Nepal rose by 32 .8 percent in the first eleven months of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015, with India and China remaining the leading markets.
A total of 655,144 tourists visited Nepal during January – November this year, whereas 493, 503 tourists visited Nepal in the eleven months of 2015.
India accounted for the highest share of tourist arrivals followed by the China, Sri Lanka, and United States and the U.K., according to the Department of Immigration (DoI).
Indian tourists visiting Nepal has increased to 105,047 in January – November this year against 68,864 in the same period last year.
Chinese tourist arrivals increased to 71,430 against 62,955 over the same period a year ago.
Tourist arrivals from Sri Lanka rose to 56,109 , whereas tourist arrival from United States was 48,481 during January-November this year as compared to 39,108 of the same period last year.
Tourist arrival from the United Kingdom increased to 42,481 against 27,180 of same period of last year.
Foreign tourists visiting Nepal in 2015 decreased due to devastating earthquake of April 25 , 2015 and subsequent Tarai unrest and Indian blockade for nearly six months. The 7.8 magnitude April 2015 Nepal earthquake killed nearly 9,000 people and injured 22,000 in different parts of the country.
A total of 538,970 tourists visited Nepal by air in the year 2015, 29.7 percent down compared to arrival figure of 2014 when 790, 118 tourists visited Nepal .
Travel trade people opine that the arrival figure is not satisfactory despite government’s claim that tourism has returned to normalcy,
Top 5 – Tourist Arrivals in January- November 2016
India – 105047
China – 71,430
Sri Lanka – 56,109
USA -48,481
UK- 42,481
December 9 , 2016
