Tourist arrivals by air decreases in Nepal
Kathmandu, May 2: International tourist arrival to Nepal via air recorded another decline in the month of April this year.Tourist arrivals in the month of April 2013, compared to the same month last year, have decreased by 8.9 per cent to 54119.
Aggregate visitor arrivals decreased by 5.3 per cent to 197,014 for the period between Jan-April 2013 compared to the same month last year.
According to the figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), the SAARC segment shows a 21.6 per cent decline compared to the same month last year.
Indian market considered as a major market, showed a decline of 25.3 per cent. Similarly, arrivals from Pakistan and Sri Lanka have witnessed negative growth of 10.9 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively. However, only Bangladesh has registered a positive growth of 16.6 per cent.
However arrivals from Asia (other than South Asia) have recorded positive growth.
Visitor arrivals from China, one of the fastest growing tourist markets for Nepal, have recorded the growth of 26.6 per cent compared to the figures in same period.
A total of 12,069 tourists from India and 4686 from China visited Nepal in April this year.
Similarly, Malaysia and Thailand have maintained the upward trend. However, arrivals from Japan South Korea and Singapore have witnessed negative growth.
European markets have posted weaker arrivals figures and have registered overall negative growth by 14.3 per cent. Visitor arrivals from France, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and Sweden have registered positive growth. However, arrivals from the UK, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and Russia have declined compared to the same month last year.
Likewise, arrivals from Australia, New Zealand and USA also posted positive growth, whereas Canada showed decrease in arrival figure .
A total of 66,107 foreign tourists departed from TIA in April 2013. The number of Nepalese arrivals stood at 62,488 while 75,323 Nepalese departed from TIA in April 2013 according to Nepal Tourism Board.
