Hinting towards positive vibes in the domestic tourism industry, the inflow of foreign tourists in Nepal (via both land and air routes) has increased by 14.2 per cent to 288,918 in the first three months of 2018 compared to the same period last year, according to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).
Issuing a press statement, NTB informed that foreign tourist arrivals from the SAARC nations registered 18.1 per cent growth in the first three months of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017, according to a report published on https://thehimalayantimes.com/.
Similarly, NTB stated that foreign tourist arrivals from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan recorded positive growth of 15.2 per cent, 35.3 per cent, 3.6 per cent and 20.5 per cent, respectively in January 2018 against the figures of same month in 2017.
Similarly, the overall arrivals from the SAARC countries registered a positive growth of 18.1 per cent in the first three months of 2018 compared to the same period last year.
The NTB’s press statement, which is based on the foreign tourist arrival figures maintained by the Department of Immigration (DoI) show that the inflow of foreign tourists from China increased significantly – by 23.6 per cent in January, 62 per cent in February and 29.6 per cent in March this year as compared to their arrivals in the same months last year.
Similarly, tourist arrivals from Asia (other than SAARC) also recorded positive growth of 22.2 per cent in January, 13.2 per cent in February and 21.85 per cent in March of 2018 compared to the same months last year.
As per NTB, tourist arrivals from Japan, South Korea and Thailand went up by 5.3 per cent, 32.7 per cent and 24.9 per cent in January, respectively.
China topped the tourist arrivals chart in first three months of 2018, with 40,976 Chinese nationals visiting Nepal during the period. Similarly, India (34,133), United States (21,359), Thailand (18,664), Sri Lanka (16,813), United Kingdom (15,878), South Korea (12,697), Germany (10,024), Japan (9,171) and Bangladesh (8,926) were the other highest source nations.
Likewise, tourist inflow from European nations witnessed growth of 17.2 per cent in January, 16.4 per cent in February and 35.9 per cent in March as compared to the same months last year.
“Nepal witnessed an unprecedented growth in the tourist arrivals and the country received almost a million visitors. The upward trend that took off in 2016 and its continuation in 2017 and 2018 disseminated a very positive message to the tourism sources markets abroad and entire tourism fraternity in Nepal,” reads the press statement of NTB.