Jan-June tourist arrivals reach 294k

Tourist arrivals via air to Nepal in the first half of 2012 have increased 19.8 percent to 294,019 as against the same period last year.

According to the figures released by the Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), tourist arrivals rose 16.2 percent in June compared to the same month last year. Nepal welcomed 43,238 foreign visitors in June.

All source markets except Oceania have shown a positive growth in the sixth month of 2012. In aggregate, the South Asian segment registered a positive growth of 12.2 percent.

India, which constitutes the major market for Nepal, recorded a healthy growth of 12.7 percent. Also, arrivals from Pakistan jumped 36.5 percent. However, arrivals from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka declined 3.7 percent and 14.4 percent respectively.

Arrivals from Asia other than South Asia recorded a jump of 45.8 percent in aggregate. Visitor arrivals from China soared 61 percent compared to the same month last year. Similarly, arrivals from Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand surged 26.9 percent, 56.3 percent, 63.6 percent and 67.1 percent respectively.

An overall positive growth of 3.7 percent has been observed from the European market with arrivals from the UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Russia up by 17.1 percent, 6.0 percent, 2.5 percent, 11.2 percent, and 4.0 percent respectively.

However, arrivals from Germany, Spain and Italy declined 16.2 percent, 3.9 percent, and 20 percent respectively compared to the same month last year.

Tourist arrivals from Australia, Canada and the US increased 3.7 percent, 73.4 percent and 12.4 percent respectively. Meanwhile, arrivals from New Zealand plunged 38.4 percent.

A total of 51,397 foreign tourists departed from TIA in June 2012. The number of Nepali arrivals stood at 52,976 while 77,000 Nepalis departed from TIA in June 2012.

source: The Kathmandu Post,2 July 2012