First seven months of 2013-International tourists decline by 15pc

The number of international tourists arriving in Nepal via air has decreased by 15 percent in the first seven month of current fiscal year as compared to same period of last fiscal year.

According to the Immigration Office at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), 282,429 tourists visited Nepal till the end of July this year, down from 332,472 tourists visiting the country during the same period last year.

The data shows that the number of tourists from South Asia has decreased by 18 percent. The Indian tourists have declined by 20.2 percent this year-down from 112,165 in the first seven months of the previous year to 89,500 this year.

In the similar manner the tourists´ arrival from Pakistan as well dropped by 21.9 percent, down to 2,341 from 2,999.

Likewise, the tourists arriving from Spain plummeted by 42.1 percent to 2,739 till the end of July this year, down from 4,729 during the same period last year.
Similarly, the number of visitors from Poland decreased by 35.7 percent to 1,415. The data showed that 2,199 Polish tourists had visited the country during the same period last year.

The arrival of the tourists from Europe and the United States has slumped by 15.6 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively. Altogether 66,535 European tourists visited Nepal until July of the current fiscal year down from 78,828 during the same period of the previous fiscal year. Similarly, the number of Americans visiting Nepal has dropped from 27,372 to 28, 432.

“Our inability to promote tourism is responsible for the decline of the international tourists,” says Yogendra Shakya, former president of Hotel Association of Nepal (HAAN). According to Shakya, Nepal lacks consumer marketing targeted to tourists.Moreover, Shakya opined that Nepali tourism market highly relies on the tourists from India and China.

Meanwhile, More tourists from Malaysia and China visited Nepal during the first seven months of this year as compared to the same period last year.
The Chinese tourists increased by 24 percent to 33,789 while the Malaysians increased by an impressive 117 percent to 7,857.

However, the month of July witnessed 0.28 percent growth of overall international tourists to 38,560 as compared to last July.

source: republica,3 August 2013