Tourist arrivals rise by 15.74 per cent

Tourist arrivals, via air, jumped by 15.74 per cent year-on-year in May, as the inflow of travellers from India, China, the US, the UK, Bangladesh and Australia went up.

The country received 51,105 foreign visitors in May this year, as against 44,156 recorded in the same month last year, show the data provided by the Immigration Office at Tribhuvan International Airport.

India, as in the previous years, topped the list of foreign visitors coming to Nepal by air, with arrivals standing at 18,720. The arrival of Indian tourists in the month was 2.68 per cent higher than in May last year.

Most of the Indians visiting Nepal are religious tourists, who come here with the purpose of paying homage to Pashupatinath, among others.

Over the years, the flow of Chinese tourists has also gone up in the country.

In May, a total of 4,522 Chinese arrived here, making China the second biggest source of foreign tourists for Nepal. The number of Chinese who arrived in Nepal in the month was 36.45 per cent higher than in the same month last year.

Rising income level and expanding mid-income group in the world’s second largest economy have offered lots of opportunities for the world tourism market, including Nepal.

Next in the list of countries to send large number of tourists was the United States. A total of 4,250 US citizens visited Nepal in May, as against 3,729 recorded in the same month last year.

Among others, Bangla-desh and the UK topped the list of biggest foreign tourist source countries.

A total of 1,977 Bangladeshis visited Nepal in May, up 32.24 per cent compared to the same period last year, while 1,896 Britons came to Nepal in the month, up 7.97 per cent than in the same period last year.

However, arrival of tourists from a couple of European markets like Germany, Italy and Israel fell by 11.32 per cent, 15.36 per cent and 11.32 per cent to 1,011, 325 and 235, respectively.

source: the himalayan tims,20 june 2014