Tourist arrivals register sustainable growth by air

The sustainable international visitors growth last year continued in the first month of this year too, recording a 27.7 per cent growth in arrivals by air in January.
"The first month of the year witnessed 42,031 international arrivals compared to the same month last year, when 32,914 tourists visited Nepal," according to the figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuwan International Airport.
All the regions have shown positive growths in the first month led by the key tourist generating markets India and China, that recorded positive growth of 29.2 per cent and 107 per cent.
In the SAARC region, arrivals from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka registered positive growth by 34.4 per cent and 112.5 per cent respectively but the arrivals from Pakistan declined by 29.6 per cent.
"In aggregate the South Asian segment has registered a positive growth of 27.7 per cent," it added.Arrivals from Asia — except South Asia — also recorded positive growth of 42 per cent in aggregate with all markets showing improved performance except Malaysia.
Similarly, the arrivals from Japan, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea increased by 6.4 per cent, 5.2 per cent, 8.4 per cent, and 7.9 per cent respectively, though Malaysia registered a negative growth of 13.5 per cent.
An overall positive growth of 22.8 per cent has been observed from the European markets with arrivals from major tourist generating markets like the UK, Germany, France and Switzerland up by 4.7 per cent, 27.9 per cent, 88.1 per cent and 132.4 per cent respectively.
However, the arrivals from Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden dropped by 3.8 per cent, 9.7 per cent and 59.9 per cent respectively compared to the same month last year. Tourist arrivals from Australia, Canada and USA also registered growths of 8.6 per cent, 27.8 per cent, and 7.7 per cent, respectively.
However, the arrivals from New Zealand registered a negative growth of 12.2 per cent, according to the data compiled by Nepal Tourism Board.
Nepal has enjoyed a continuous positive growth in the international visitor arrivals since June 2009 and the trend continued this year too.
Meanwhile, a total of 52,617 foreign tourists departed from TIA in January.

The arrivals
January 2010 — 26,071
January 2011 — 32,914
January 2012 — 42,031
(Source: Immigration Office, Tribhuwan International Airport)