Tourist arrivals drop in November

As expected the number of foreign visitors to Nepal via air has decreased in November due to travel advisory of the UK and the US during the second Constituent Assembly (CA) election.

"The number of foreign tourists to Nepal via air dropped by 7.01 per cent or 4,166 – compared to the figures of the same month last year – to 55,245 last month," the figures of the Immigration Office, Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) revealed. "Last Novemer, some 59,411 foreign tourists had visited Nepal via air."

Nepal had been observing a sustained growth in international tourist arrivals since June 2009 but started suffering a decline in the second half of 2013 may be due to the inconsistent air fare to and from Nepal to major gateways and coinciding with the CA election on November 19, Nepal Tourism Board said, adding that the decline also reflects the volatile nature of international tourists' movement which is easily affected by factors such as cost of traveling, the situation at the destination country, the global economic trends and traveling spirit of international visitors

Although, the IMF has estimated that the global economic growth is in low gear, the international tourist arrivals have shown increases of five per cent in the first eight months compared to the same period of 2012, according to UNWTO. The Asia and the Pacific region recorded six per cent more arrivals, which is largely due to the high growth of the South-East Asia region (by 12 per cent).
likewise, the number of Nepalese arrivals in November from TIA has also declined by 27 per cent compared to the same month last year. "A total of 52,970 Nepalis arrived in Nepal in November, against last November's 72,735," it said, expecting that the next year might see improvement in tourist arrivals in Nepal as it is heading towards stability.