Monday, October 1, 2012

India, China continue to propel tourist arrivals


Increasing Indian and Chinese tourist arrivals have pushed the overall international visitor arrivals by air by 7.2 per cent to 49,075 in September.
Indian tourist arrivals recorded a robust growth of 13.1 per cent, whereas China — another fastest growing tourist markets for Nepal — also posted a growth of 17.1 per cent compared to the same month last year, according to the figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
All the regions have shown positive growth in September with South Asian gaining overall positive growth of 2.4 per cent, Asia (other than South Asia) 19.3 per cent, and Europe 2.6 per cent in aggregate growth compared to the same month last year, said Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) that compiled the data.
Similarly, during January to September the country witnessed a total of 426,118 international tourist arrivals — an increment by 15.2 per cent compared to the same period last year — to Nepal.
"Visitor arrivals from Sri Lanka gained 28.5 per cent, though Bangladesh and Pakistan posted negative growth in September," it said, adding that a robust growth of 19.7 per cent has been observed in the arrivals from the South Asian region during the first nine months of 2012 compared to the same period last year.
Malaysia posted 136.6 per cent, South Korea 26 per cent and Singapore 2.9 per cent growth but arrivals from Japan and Thailand witnessed negative growth, it added.
In the European market, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Russia posted 8.8 per cent, 23.4 per cent, 2.5 per cent, and 3.3 per cent growth, respectively, while, the arrivals from Spain, Switzerland and Italy declined by 7.8 per cent, 7.6 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively compared to the same month last year.
Tourist arrivals from Australia, New Zealand and USA increased by 39.8 per cent, 4.2 per cent, and 3.8 per cent, respectively.
A total of 43,689 foreign tourists departed from the only international airport, whereas some 65,615 Nepalis departed and 61,369 Nepalis arrived in the month.

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