Tourist inflow increases in Nepal despite global recession

Against the fear that the world economic crisis would affect Nepal's tourist industry, the tourist arrival by air in November increased by 6.6 percent compared to the same month last year, Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said.

Quoting figures released by the Immigration Office at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), NTB said, in November, 36,851 visitors arrived in Nepal and the total number of visitors till November 2008 has reached 344,599, an increase of 4.3 percent in comparison to the same period last year.

The entire South Asian region has showed overall positive growth except for arrivals from India. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have registered growth by 81.3 percent, 59.1 percent and 29.5 percent respectively while India witnessed negative growth of 9.5 percent.

Thailand and Malaysia have maintained the upward trend with 45.7 percent and 34.5 percent of growth respectively. However, arrivals from Japan, South Korea, Singapore and China witnessed negative growth in the arrival figures by 2 percent, 15.5 percent, 14.3 percent, and 4.6 percent respectively.

UK, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden have also maintained the increasing trend in the arrival figures. Arrivals from the United States of America and Canada have also increased in November but Germany, Italy and Spain have registered negative growth. nepalnews.com ia Dec 02 08

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