Visitor arrivals register healthy growth

The country has been witnessing an upward trend since June 2009 which has continued in the third month of this year, clearly showing a rise in travel demand.

Visitor arrivals in March registered an increase of 37.2 per cent to 63,799 as compared to the same month last year, according to figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA).

Arrivals from the South Asian region gained an overall positive growth of 61.4 per cent as India — the major market of Nepal — has recorded a robust growth of 68.6 per cent with 6,606 more visitors as compared to last March. Arrivals from India, which is the largest source market for Nepal, has been increasing since the beginning of 2010.

“Similarly, visitor arrivals from Sri Lanka had a growth of 116.1 per cent along with Bangladesh (up by 19.7 per cent) and Pakistan (up by 19.5 per cent), revealed data compiled by Nepal Tourism Board.

A robust growth of 29.7 per cent has been observed in arrivals from the South Asian region during the first three months of 2012 as compared to the same period last year.

Arrivals from Asia — other than South Asia — have also recorded a positive growth of 21.5 per cent in aggregate. “Visitor arrivals from China — one of the fastest growing tourist markets for Nepal — have sustained a remarkable growth of 47 per cent, as compared to last March,” it said, adding that other Asian countries also maintained the upward trend of previous months with Japan (up by 12.3 per cent), Malaysia (up by 4.6 per cent), South Korea (up by 24.8 per cent) and Thailand (up by 27.7 per cent).

An overall positive growth of 42 per cent has been observed from Europe with arrivals from the UK, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Poland and Russia up. Similarly, tourist arrivals from Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada have also increased.

However, arrivals from France, Italy and the Netherlands have declined by 3.9 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 7.7 per cent, respectively, as compared to the same month last year.

In the January-March period, international tourist arrivals increased by 27 per cent to 148,546 as compared to the same period last year. “A total of 59,459 foreign tourists departed from TIA in March whereas some 58,277 Nepalis arrived and 75,827 Nepalis departed from TIA,” the data showed.

With increased arrivals, March will see one of the highest occupancy rates in five-star hotels, according to a report.

“One of the highest hotel occupancy rates in five-star hotels was recorded last March,” according to a report of the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. “Last March, five-star hotels had recorded 62.94 per cent hotel occupancy, which was the fourth highest occupancy rate in 2011."

source: The Himalayan Times, 1 March 2012