Tourist arrivals post healthy growth

South Asian arrivals posted an overall growth of 55.5 per cent in November boosting the confidence of tourism entrepreneurs before the Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011 that is just one month away.

According to the figures from Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), visitor arrivals in the month of November -- compared to the same month last year -- have also increased by 21.5 per cent to 48,331.
"The arrivals from South Asian region have gained overall positive growth of 55.5 per cent with Bangladesh (up by 80.7 per cent0, India (UP BY 52.9 per cent), Pakistan (up by 6.6 per cent) and Sri Lanka (up by 44.2 per cent) registering a positive growth," the data revealed. A robust growth of 24.5 per cent has been observed in the arrivals from the South Asian region during the eleven months of 2010, in comparison to the same period last year.
Visitor arrivals from Asia (other than South Asian region) have also maintained the upward trend. The region has recorded growth of 8.8 per cent. Visitor arrivals from Japan (up by 14.5 per cent), Malaysia (up by 16.4 per cent), and South Korea (up by 44.9 per cent) and Thailand (up by 154.3 per cent) have registered positive growths.

However arrivals from China and Singapore have registered negative growths of 3.8 per cent and 5.5 per cent respectively. A growth of 18.1 per cent has been observed in the arrivals from this region during the eleven months of 2010, in comparison to the same period last year, the data showed.

Regarding the long-haul markets, Europe registered overall positive growth of 8.6 per cent with major source markets showing positive trend in terms of visitor arrivals. Arrivals from France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, UK up by 8.3 per cent, 25.7 per cent, 3.2 per cent, 9.1 per cent, 1.5 per cent, 16.8 per cent, 13.4 per cent, and 4.9 per cent, respectively.
A growth of 15.3 per cent has been observed in the arrivals from the European region during the eleven months of 2010, in comparison to the same period last year. The figures also show increasing trend in the visitor arrivals from Australia and New Zealand with a growth of 10.8 per cent and 30.2 per cent respectively.
Similarly the United States of America and Canada have registered positive growth of 39.2 per cent and 31.5 per cent, respectively.

A total of 68,356 foreign tourists departed from TIA in November, whereas the number of Nepalis arrivals stood at 55,332 and 67,262 Nepalis departed from TIA in November, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said.