Nepali outbound surges, Thailand top destination

SANGAM PRASAIN
Travel agencies selling outbound tour packages have reported a surge in bookings pointing to a rebound from last year’s slump thanks to rising disposable incomes among Nepalis.

October-November not only sees a notable growth in inbound tourism but also a large number of Nepalis going on vacation, taking advantage of the festival season and winter holidays, with Thailand being the most popular overseas destination.

Travel agencies said that they were optimistic that demand for overseas trips would increase significantly this year, despite a weakening Nepali rupee against the US dollar.

Last year, a combination of factors like the Nepali rupee sinking to a record low of Rs 110 per dollar during the prime booking season and political tensions in a number of East Asian destinations particularly Thailand had induced a negative growth momentum in outbound travel.

Travel agencies said that the outbound market had been corrected this year and that they expected good business. There are more than two dozen travel agencies dealing in outbound packages nowadays.

“We have received confirmed bookings from 150 people for the September-October period and are processing around 100 overseas trips,” said Neeli Shah, outbound marketing executive of Natraj Tours & Travels. “We expect more than 400 vacationers this year in contrast to the 120 people in 2013,” Shah said.

As Thailand and Malaysia continue to remain among the most preferred destinations, a growing number of Nepali travellers have been diversifying their destinations and planning trips to Dubai, Manila, China, Singapore, Turkey and Bali.

More than 60 percent of the travellers go to Thailand due to its competitively priced packages. The cost excluding airfare and visa fee starts from $ 150 per person for a four-night, five-day package.

According to Natraj Tours, a three-night, four-day package to Dubai costs $ 750 including airfare. It has launched a promotional three-night, four-day package to Bali that costs $ 185 per person excluding airfare.

“In a bid to attract more customers to go on overseas trips, we have also launched cruise destinations particularly in Singapore and Dubai, and there have been more than 20 confirmed booking for this segment,” Shah added.

Meanwhile, Suman Lal Shrestha, CEO of Hamro Holidays, said there had been an increasing trend of Nepali fun seekers from middle and lower middle income groups travelling abroad.

“The current overseas trip booking trend shows that there will be a significant number of people travelling to various holiday destinations during this Dashain and Tihar festivals,” Shrestha said. “We have received more than 300 confirmed bookings for this festival season and there are a significant number of inquiries.”

Shrestha said that Thailand was the first choice of Nepali travellers, while travel packages for European destinations are also getting popular nowadays.  

According to him, a Thailand tour package including airfare starts from Rs 55,000 per person, an increase of almost Rs 5,000 over last year’s rate due to a hike in the airfare.

According to Tourism Ministry statistics, Nepali outbound dropped 17.57 percent to 32,369 departures in 2013. The outbound numbers were 39,269 in 2013 and 32,063 in 2011. In 2008, outbound amounted to 21,899 departures. Among the 983,357 Nepalis going abroad last year, vacationers made up 3.29 percent.

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), 25,455 Nepalis visited Thailand in 2013, down 3.12 percent. TAT’s stats show that the length of stay of Nepalis in Thailand averaged 8.87 days last year, up from 8.61 days in 2012, the highest among South Asian visitors.

Similarly, Nepalis spent $ 138.95 per day in Thailand last year against $ 133.12 per day in 2012. In total, Nepali outbound spent $ 31.80 million (Rs 3.11 billion) there. In the previous year, Nepalis total spending was recorded at $ 30.17 million (Rs 2.70 billion). A larger portion of Nepali spending went into shopping and accommodation.  

source: the kathmandu post, 18 sept 2014