Drop in South Asian visitors pulls tourist arrivals by air down

Due to drop in South Asian travelers, the visitor arrivals via air decreased by 4.6 per cent to 41,259 in June compared to the same month last year, according to Immigration Office at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

“In aggregate, the South Asian segment has registered negative growth of 12.5 per cent,” it said, adding that India, which is the major market, recorded negative growth of 15.3 per cent. “Arrivals from Pakistan also decreased by 28.8 per cent, though visitors from Bangladesh increased by 53.8 per cent and Sri Lanka have increased by 62.9 per cent, respectively.

Arrivals from Asia – except South Asia – also posted a positive growth of 20.8 per cent in aggregate propelled by arrivals from China that grew by 25.7 per cent compared to last June.
Similarly, arrivals from Malaysia and Singapore also increased by 195.1 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively, whereas Japan, South Korea and Thailand markets saw declines of 10.5 per cent, 23.4 per cent and 18.8 per cent, respectively.
An overall positive growth of 1.4 per cent has been observed from the European markets with arrivals from UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain up by 2.6 per cent, 14.7 per cent, 24.5 per cent, 6.1 per cent and 15.9 per cent, respectively. However, arrivals from France and Russia dropped by 2.3 per cent and 10.6 per cent, respectively compared to the same month last year.
Tourist arrivals from Australia increased by 33.3 per cent, whereas arrivals from New Zealand, Canada and the USA have decreased by 5.6 per cent, 12.9 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.
According to the data, in the six months of the current year – between January and June –international tourist arrivals to Nepal by air decreased by 3.9 per cent to 282,429 in aggregate.
A total of 50,312 foreign tourists departed from Tribhuvan International Airport in June. Likewise, some 57,931 Nepalis arrived and some 82,167 Nepalis departed from TIA in June.