Tourist arrivals down by 7 pc in October

The visitor arrivals to Nepal via air in the month of October has declined by 7.3 percent to 67, 901 compared to the same month last year. Nepal had been observing sustained growth in international tourist arrivals since June 2009 but suffered a downturn this October.

According to the figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) the visitor arrivals from SAARC segment shows a 28.5 percent decline compared to the same month last year. Similarly, Indian market, which is considered as a major market, showed a decline of 30.1 percent. Arrivals from Bangladesh and Pakistan have witnessed negative growth of 18.3 percent and 45.6 percent, respectively. However, only Sri Lanka have registered a positive growth of 48 percent.

However, arrivals from Asia (other than South Asia) have recorded positive growth of 4.9 percent in aggregate. Visitor arrivals from China, one of the fastest growing tourist markets for Nepal, have sustained the growth of 0.7 percent, compared to the figures in same period. Similarly, Malaysia (83.6 percent), have maintained the upward trend. However, arrivals from Japan (12 percent), South Korea (16.4 percent), Singapore (6.2 percent) and Thailand (16.6 percent) have witnessed negative growth.

European markets posted weaker arrivals figures, registering overall negative growth by 17.5 percent. Arrivals from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Spain, Switzerland and Russia declined by 9.3 percent, 5.3 percent, 19.2 percent, 23.2 percent, 27.6 percent, 22.5 percent, and 18.5 percent, respectively compared to the same month last year.

However, arrivals from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States registered positive growth of 17.4 percent, 50 percent, 0.5 percent and 22.3 percent respectively.

However, the aggregate growth for the period between January-October has remained with a growth of 11.5 percent as compared to same period last year.

The total number of departure of international visitors in October has also recorded positive growth of 9.1 percent as compared to same month last year.

A total of 75,412 foreign tourists departed from TIA in October. The number of Nepalis arrivals stood at 76,257 while 58,378 departed from TIA in October. nepalnews.com