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Tourist arrival increases slightly

The tourist arrival has shown an increase of 2 percent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year.

According to Nepal Tourism Board, 257,181 visitors came to Nepal via air till September 2008. However, the arrival figures in the month of September, 2008 compared to the same month last year, have increased by 1 percent to 32,502.

India, the largest tourist generating market for Nepal showed remarkable growth of 14 percent in September. The entire South Asian region has gained overall positive growth of 13 percent with Bangladesh (3 percent) and Sri Lanka (8 percent), except for arrivals from Pakistan which have decreased by 8 percent, NTB said.

Similarly, other Asian countries, China, Singapore and Malaysia have maintained the upward trend with 8 percent, 29 percent and 35 percent of growth respectively.

Israel, France, Australia and Norway have also maintained the increasing trend in the arrival figures. Arrivals from the United States of America and Canada have also increased in September in comparison to the same month last year.

However, other major markets such as Japan, South Korea and Thailand witnessed negative growth in the arrival figures by 21 percent, 40 percent and 7 percent respectively. European arrivals also suffered a significant decline with UK (9 percent), Italy (35 percent), Germany (20 percent) and Spain (13 percent). nepalnews.com ia Oct 02 08