Now you can book your ticket from your own house or office via the internet.
Yeti Airlines (Domestic) Pvt Ltd and Everest Bank Ltd (EBL) today signed an Memorandum of Understanding on e-ticketing.
This is the first time in the country that plane tickets are being made available through internet booking system after an airlines company and bank signed an agreement. It has opened up the vista of a completely new travelling experience for Nepalis.
EBL deputy general manager BK Pradhan and Yeti Airlines director sales and marketing of Yeti Airlines Pradeep Bikram Shah signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organisations. Under the agreement, an EBL account holder can book the ticket and pay from the account online.
Customers can check available flights on required dates and do not need to visit travel agents. "One need not depend on agents," said Shah. The airlines is also planning to sign agreements with other banks to make domestic travel more easier.
"Domestic travel will get easier with an EBL account," said EBL chief executive officer R K Ummat. He said that EBL is also planning to add international airlines to give its customers added services.
"We are planning to sign such agreement with international airlines as well," confirmed EBL chairman B K Shrestha.
Yeti airlines with its over a decade of flying experience in the domestic sky has flights to Pokhara, Biratnagar, Bhairawa, Bhadrapur and Nepalgunj from Kathmandu. With the agreement between Yeti Airlines and EBL, customers with Internet banking facility can reserve air tickets through the internet and get electronic air tickets.
EBL with its one-and-a-half decade of experience in banking in Nepal has also offered a zero balance account for the Sky Club members of Yeti Airlines. "From any of our branches Sky Club members of Yeti Airlines can open a zero balance account to get this value-added service," Shrestha added.
Yeti Airlines has its flights to 29 places while Everest Bank also has a total of 34 branch offices across the country.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The good stocks
On the last trading day of last week @ per unit rate:
Standard Chartered Bank Nepal's 1,513-unit shares -- between Rs 5,446 and Rs 5,300.
Nabil Bank's 2,295-unit shares -- between Rs 4,325 and Rs 4,200.
Everest Bank's 140-unit shares -- between Rs 2,360 and Rs 2,295.
Nepal SBI Bank's 1,876-unit shares -- between Rs 1,685 and Rs 1,615.
Himalayan Bank's 471-unit shares -- between Rs 1,600 and Rs 1,560.
Bank of Kathmandu's 3,638-unit shares -- between Rs 1,600 and Rs 1,540.
Nepal Investment Bank's 1,546-unit shares -- between Rs 932 and Rs 907.
These are some of the expensive stocks of commercial banks that can push up or pull down Nepse but investors still prefer them. "They prefer banks' shares because of growth of wealth," said share analyst Rabindra Bhattarai. "Banks' shares give better returns," he said adding that these shares are still not expensive in comparison to other shares -- such as those which have 400 times the price earning ratio (P/E ratio) in the domestic secondary market.
Investors think of returns while buying shares, apart from good corporate governance. They are after shares of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, Nepal Investment Bank, Nabil Bank, Himalayan Bank, Nepal SBI Bank because of their good corporate governance, growth and returns.
"Between 2004 to 2009, Nabil has achieved unprecedented growth in all major parameters. Its net worth increased by 134.01 per cent to Rs 3,468 million," said Nabil Bank chief executive officer Anil Shah.
Nepal Bangladesh Bank (NBB) is an example of how bad governance turns good stocks bad overnight. NBB's 11,136-unit shares were traded this week between Rs 300 and Rs 290. Once its shares were traded at Rs 3,400 per unit, but bad governance dragged it to fiscal purgatory in a jiffy, although its improving these days.
How and why of returns
* You bought 10-unit shares of Standard Chartered during its IPO in 1988-89. Today, you have 282-unit shares -- including the fiscal year 2008-09's proposed dividends -- and received cash dividends of Rs 97,425.
* You bought 10-unit shares of Nabil bank during its IPO in 1984. Today, you have 191-units and have already received Rs 72,747 cash dividends -- including fiscal year 2008-09's proposed dividends.
* You bought 10-unit shares of Nepal Bangladesh Bank during its IPO. Today, you have 150-unit shares including rights shares and bonus.
Standard Chartered Bank Nepal's 1,513-unit shares -- between Rs 5,446 and Rs 5,300.
Nabil Bank's 2,295-unit shares -- between Rs 4,325 and Rs 4,200.
Everest Bank's 140-unit shares -- between Rs 2,360 and Rs 2,295.
Nepal SBI Bank's 1,876-unit shares -- between Rs 1,685 and Rs 1,615.
Himalayan Bank's 471-unit shares -- between Rs 1,600 and Rs 1,560.
Bank of Kathmandu's 3,638-unit shares -- between Rs 1,600 and Rs 1,540.
Nepal Investment Bank's 1,546-unit shares -- between Rs 932 and Rs 907.
These are some of the expensive stocks of commercial banks that can push up or pull down Nepse but investors still prefer them. "They prefer banks' shares because of growth of wealth," said share analyst Rabindra Bhattarai. "Banks' shares give better returns," he said adding that these shares are still not expensive in comparison to other shares -- such as those which have 400 times the price earning ratio (P/E ratio) in the domestic secondary market.
Investors think of returns while buying shares, apart from good corporate governance. They are after shares of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, Nepal Investment Bank, Nabil Bank, Himalayan Bank, Nepal SBI Bank because of their good corporate governance, growth and returns.
"Between 2004 to 2009, Nabil has achieved unprecedented growth in all major parameters. Its net worth increased by 134.01 per cent to Rs 3,468 million," said Nabil Bank chief executive officer Anil Shah.
Nepal Bangladesh Bank (NBB) is an example of how bad governance turns good stocks bad overnight. NBB's 11,136-unit shares were traded this week between Rs 300 and Rs 290. Once its shares were traded at Rs 3,400 per unit, but bad governance dragged it to fiscal purgatory in a jiffy, although its improving these days.
How and why of returns
* You bought 10-unit shares of Standard Chartered during its IPO in 1988-89. Today, you have 282-unit shares -- including the fiscal year 2008-09's proposed dividends -- and received cash dividends of Rs 97,425.
* You bought 10-unit shares of Nabil bank during its IPO in 1984. Today, you have 191-units and have already received Rs 72,747 cash dividends -- including fiscal year 2008-09's proposed dividends.
* You bought 10-unit shares of Nepal Bangladesh Bank during its IPO. Today, you have 150-unit shares including rights shares and bonus.
Bearish trend savages Nepse
Almost all sub-groups -- among the nine -- lost this week to pull the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index down by 21.14 points to 660.40 points from Sunday morning's opening of 681.54 points. Except for two sub-groups -- hotels and trading -- that did not see any trading of their shares in the secondary market this week, all the other seven sub-groups -- commercial banks, hydropower, development banks, finance companies, insurance companies, others and manufacturing sub -- groups performed badly due to low investor confidence and rumours of promoter shares flooding the secondary market.
However, 84.26 million-unit bonus and rights shares of two banks, one development bank and a finance company, were added in the secondary market.
The week started in the red, losing 10.39 points to 671.15 points. Last August 31, Nepse had created history by touching a record 1175.38 points but this August 31 -- the first day of this week's trading -- Nepse touched a low of 671.15 points and continued to drop throughout the week. Only on one day -- Wednesday -- did Nepse gain a consolation 5.77 points to close the week's trading at 660.40 points.
This week, Bank of Kathmandu topped the chart in terms of transaction amount with Rs 36.22 million. Nabil Bank followed with Rs 35.25 million and Standard Chartered Bank Nepal came third with Rs 34.98 million. IME Finance with Rs 19.46 million and Nepal SBI Bank with Rs 18.53 million managed to come in the top five.
In terms of number of share units traded, National Hydropower Company topped the chart with 31,000-unit shares changing hands while in terms of number of transactions Bank of Asia Nepal topped the chart with 446 transactions.
The transaction amount decreased by a whopping 32.63 per cent this week against last week's 19.46 per cent.
Group-A companies contributed 67.75 per cent as against last week's 62.89 per cent. The 78-scrip sensitive index -- a barometer of Group-A companies -- lost 6.59 points to 173.62 points and the float index -- calculated on the basis of real transactions -- also slid down by 2.28 points to 63.67 points from Sunday morning's opening of 65.95 points.
In the coming weeks too, Nepse is likely to continue to drop as most of the banks and financial institutes are closing their books for their annual general meetings. As always, the books-closing will pull Nepse down. This week, on September 8 Nabil Bank is closing its books.
However, 84.26 million-unit bonus and rights shares of two banks, one development bank and a finance company, were added in the secondary market.
The week started in the red, losing 10.39 points to 671.15 points. Last August 31, Nepse had created history by touching a record 1175.38 points but this August 31 -- the first day of this week's trading -- Nepse touched a low of 671.15 points and continued to drop throughout the week. Only on one day -- Wednesday -- did Nepse gain a consolation 5.77 points to close the week's trading at 660.40 points.
This week, Bank of Kathmandu topped the chart in terms of transaction amount with Rs 36.22 million. Nabil Bank followed with Rs 35.25 million and Standard Chartered Bank Nepal came third with Rs 34.98 million. IME Finance with Rs 19.46 million and Nepal SBI Bank with Rs 18.53 million managed to come in the top five.
In terms of number of share units traded, National Hydropower Company topped the chart with 31,000-unit shares changing hands while in terms of number of transactions Bank of Asia Nepal topped the chart with 446 transactions.
The transaction amount decreased by a whopping 32.63 per cent this week against last week's 19.46 per cent.
Group-A companies contributed 67.75 per cent as against last week's 62.89 per cent. The 78-scrip sensitive index -- a barometer of Group-A companies -- lost 6.59 points to 173.62 points and the float index -- calculated on the basis of real transactions -- also slid down by 2.28 points to 63.67 points from Sunday morning's opening of 65.95 points.
In the coming weeks too, Nepse is likely to continue to drop as most of the banks and financial institutes are closing their books for their annual general meetings. As always, the books-closing will pull Nepse down. This week, on September 8 Nabil Bank is closing its books.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Nepal first to launch Climate Resilience plan
Following a South Asian regional conference this week on climate change risks, Nepal is the first of nine countries to begin a global pilot programme to explore and design adaptation options funded under the $6 billion Climate Investment Fund (CIF).
The pilot programme for Climate Resilience, a $600 million fund under the CIF umbrella, is implemented through Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB) and work began in Kathmandu today. The programme is designed to help countries explore innovations and options for adapting to the growing impact of climate change.
In one vivid example, the farmers of Nepal have already observed that important fruit crops like apples and peaches are failing at current altitudes and are now doing better on higher slopes. "The pilot initiative should gather local wisdom and build on current knowledge and experiences about how communities can effectively adapt to the changing forces of climate," said Richard Damania, World Bank's Regional Climate Change Coordinator.
The Nepal pilot begins with a series of workshops engaging government, community organisations, the private sector and international donors. An important part of its design will be to consult Nepal's stakeholders as widely as possible.
"We'll look at how the climate is impacting, for example, agricultural production, people's health, availability of water in Nepal's rivers and how the country's plans and policies need to be adjusted to encourage more sustainable development," said Cindy Malvicini, Water Resources Management Specialist from ADB.
Damania added that it was also important to make sure that projects are not locked into one sector or only a few but span different areas affected by climate change risk ranging from agriculture to water, health and infrastructure.
Funding for climate resilience projects in Nepal will be in the form of grants with concessional lending also available.
The pilot programme for Climate Resilience, a $600 million fund under the CIF umbrella, is implemented through Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank (WB) and work began in Kathmandu today. The programme is designed to help countries explore innovations and options for adapting to the growing impact of climate change.
In one vivid example, the farmers of Nepal have already observed that important fruit crops like apples and peaches are failing at current altitudes and are now doing better on higher slopes. "The pilot initiative should gather local wisdom and build on current knowledge and experiences about how communities can effectively adapt to the changing forces of climate," said Richard Damania, World Bank's Regional Climate Change Coordinator.
The Nepal pilot begins with a series of workshops engaging government, community organisations, the private sector and international donors. An important part of its design will be to consult Nepal's stakeholders as widely as possible.
"We'll look at how the climate is impacting, for example, agricultural production, people's health, availability of water in Nepal's rivers and how the country's plans and policies need to be adjusted to encourage more sustainable development," said Cindy Malvicini, Water Resources Management Specialist from ADB.
Damania added that it was also important to make sure that projects are not locked into one sector or only a few but span different areas affected by climate change risk ranging from agriculture to water, health and infrastructure.
Funding for climate resilience projects in Nepal will be in the form of grants with concessional lending also available.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
VAT fuels revenue collection
Increasing population and rising consumerism has been contributing substantially to the state's coffer.
According to the finance ministry, among all the taxes Value Added Tax (VAT) will cover almost one-third of the total revenue. Out of the total revenue target of Rs 176.50 billion for the fiscal year 2009-10, the ministry is targetting Rs 51.56 billion revenue from VAT only.
"It is but obivious, if one follows the trend since last few years," said former finance minister and CPN-UML stalwart Bharat Mohan Adhikari. "The rising consumerism has fuelled the trading pushing the VAT revenue up every year," he said attributing the growth of revenue to VAT that is a consumption tax levied on any value that is added to a product.
In the first month of the current fiscal year (July 16- August 16), the VAT has contributed Rs Rs 4.34 billion in the total revenue collection of Rs 11.74 billion. The revenue target for the first month was only Rs 9.78 billion but the ministry exceeded the target because the VAT and excise duty collection exceeded their target.
The VAT target for the first month was Rs 4.33 billion but the collection exceeded the target as the ministry collected Rs 4.34 billion. Similarly, the excise duty collection target for the first month was Rs 1.03 billion but the collection exceeded and it posted Rs 1.63 billion collection.
According to the finance ministry target, the collection from customs would be Rs 33.12 billion and that from excise duty Rs 19.64 billion.
The trend of over collection of VAT, customs and excise duty not only indicate the rising consumerism but also the reforms in the customs valuation and administration.
"The finance ministry would easily meet its revenue target," Adhikari said adding that the growth trend has been encouraging.
According to the ministry's target, it has also planned to collect Rs 26.25 billion in non-tax revenue.
However, the substantially amount of the collected revenue is spent on administrative costs. The development expenses plunged to the lowest level in the last fiscal year due to lack of any development activities in absence of the local bodies. This year too, the story might repeat itself as development activities has not yet started.
"Without any development activities, the government would be spending on non-budgetary expenses," said a senior economist. "The Maoist-led government also failed on excelerating development activities and the current CPN-UML-led government is also delaying in starting any development projects that will ultimately lead to misuse of state's coffer," he said adding that the revenue would be spent on unproductive areas leading to mismanagement of state-coffer.
Revenue target break down
VAT -- Rs 51.56 billion
Income tax -- Rs 36.29 billion
Customs -- Rs 33.12 billion
Excise duty -- Rs 19.64 billion
Registration fee -- Rs 6 billion
Vehicle tax -- Rs 3.5 billion
Education Service -- Rs 120 million
Total tax revenue -- Rs 150.24 billion
Non-tax -- Rs 26.25 billion
Total revenue -- Rs 176.50 billion
According to the finance ministry, among all the taxes Value Added Tax (VAT) will cover almost one-third of the total revenue. Out of the total revenue target of Rs 176.50 billion for the fiscal year 2009-10, the ministry is targetting Rs 51.56 billion revenue from VAT only.
"It is but obivious, if one follows the trend since last few years," said former finance minister and CPN-UML stalwart Bharat Mohan Adhikari. "The rising consumerism has fuelled the trading pushing the VAT revenue up every year," he said attributing the growth of revenue to VAT that is a consumption tax levied on any value that is added to a product.
In the first month of the current fiscal year (July 16- August 16), the VAT has contributed Rs Rs 4.34 billion in the total revenue collection of Rs 11.74 billion. The revenue target for the first month was only Rs 9.78 billion but the ministry exceeded the target because the VAT and excise duty collection exceeded their target.
The VAT target for the first month was Rs 4.33 billion but the collection exceeded the target as the ministry collected Rs 4.34 billion. Similarly, the excise duty collection target for the first month was Rs 1.03 billion but the collection exceeded and it posted Rs 1.63 billion collection.
According to the finance ministry target, the collection from customs would be Rs 33.12 billion and that from excise duty Rs 19.64 billion.
The trend of over collection of VAT, customs and excise duty not only indicate the rising consumerism but also the reforms in the customs valuation and administration.
"The finance ministry would easily meet its revenue target," Adhikari said adding that the growth trend has been encouraging.
According to the ministry's target, it has also planned to collect Rs 26.25 billion in non-tax revenue.
However, the substantially amount of the collected revenue is spent on administrative costs. The development expenses plunged to the lowest level in the last fiscal year due to lack of any development activities in absence of the local bodies. This year too, the story might repeat itself as development activities has not yet started.
"Without any development activities, the government would be spending on non-budgetary expenses," said a senior economist. "The Maoist-led government also failed on excelerating development activities and the current CPN-UML-led government is also delaying in starting any development projects that will ultimately lead to misuse of state's coffer," he said adding that the revenue would be spent on unproductive areas leading to mismanagement of state-coffer.
Revenue target break down
VAT -- Rs 51.56 billion
Income tax -- Rs 36.29 billion
Customs -- Rs 33.12 billion
Excise duty -- Rs 19.64 billion
Registration fee -- Rs 6 billion
Vehicle tax -- Rs 3.5 billion
Education Service -- Rs 120 million
Total tax revenue -- Rs 150.24 billion
Non-tax -- Rs 26.25 billion
Total revenue -- Rs 176.50 billion
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Finance Ministry aims at revenue rainbow
Reforms in tax administration and new entrants in the tax net have encouraged successive finance ministers to set ambitious revenue targets.
This fiscal year also, Finance Minister Surendra Pandey set a target of Rs 176.50 billion revenue -- Rs 150.24 billion from tax revenue and Rs 26.25 billion from non-tax revenue. While he announced his accommodative budget of Rs 285.93 billion for the fiscal 2009-10 on July 13, he was under tremendous pressure from his predessesor Dr Baburam Bhattarai's success in collecting -- then dubbed ambitious by the opposition -- Rs 147.72 billion revenue. Though the finance ministry officials while preparing this fiscal year's budget initially suggested Pandey not to be too ambitious in setting the target, he could not resist himself.
Tradition also dictates that the finance minister set 10 per cent to 15 per cent higher revenue target each successive year.
The revenue section of the finance ministry has worked out a monthly target for the whole year. According to revenue secretary Krishnahari Baskota, it was necessary to achieve the overall target. For the first month of this fiscal year (July16-August 16), it had set a target of Rs 9.78 billion but the ministry exceeded the target and collected Rs 11.74 billion giving an indication of the coming days.
"The collection was Rs 4.02 billion more than that in last fiscal year's same month," Baskota said adding that during the first month of last fiscal year, the ministry had collected Rs 7.72 billion revenue. "The 52.2 per cent higher revenue collection in the first month in comparison to the corresponding month in the fiscal year 2008-09 shows that we can achieve the target easily," he added.
According to the ministry, among all taxes the Value Added Tax (VAT) will fetch in the most revenue, followed by customs. The ministry is set to collect Rs 51.56 billion in VAT and Rs 33.12 billion in customs. The collection from excise duty would be Rs 19.64 billion and that from education service tax Rs 120 million, according to the target. It has planned to collect Rs 26.25 billion in non-tax revenue.
The ministry has set Rs 25.67 billion -- the largest collection target -- for the last month of the fiscal year -- that is June16-July 16, 2010. The second largest collection it is eyeing during the sixth month of the fiscal year is Rs 20.10 billion. It is but natural that the sixth and the last month of the fiscal year are bigger revenue earners.
The ministry is also encouraged by the campaign to register for service sector employees and professional consultants in the permanent account number (PAN ) to boost revenue. It has started PAN registration for the individuals who have regular income. Through PAN registration the state aims to tighten its grip on professionals providing multiple consultancy services but who are getting away with only a 15 per cent tax contribution.
Monthly Revenue Target
July 16-August 16 – Rs 9.78 billion
August 16-September 16 – Rs 9.25 billion
September 16-October 16 – Rs 9.58 billion
October 16-November 16 – Rs 12.70 billion
November 16-December 16 – Rs 13.53 billion
December 16-January 16 – Rs 20.10 billion
January 16-February 16 – Rs 15.43 billion
February 16-March 16 – Rs 14.76 billion
March 16-April 16 – Rs 17.64 billion
April 16-May 16 – Rs 14.53 billion
May 16-June16 – Rs 13.47 billion
June 16-July16 – Rs 25.67 billion
Total – Rs 176.50 billion
This fiscal year also, Finance Minister Surendra Pandey set a target of Rs 176.50 billion revenue -- Rs 150.24 billion from tax revenue and Rs 26.25 billion from non-tax revenue. While he announced his accommodative budget of Rs 285.93 billion for the fiscal 2009-10 on July 13, he was under tremendous pressure from his predessesor Dr Baburam Bhattarai's success in collecting -- then dubbed ambitious by the opposition -- Rs 147.72 billion revenue. Though the finance ministry officials while preparing this fiscal year's budget initially suggested Pandey not to be too ambitious in setting the target, he could not resist himself.
Tradition also dictates that the finance minister set 10 per cent to 15 per cent higher revenue target each successive year.
The revenue section of the finance ministry has worked out a monthly target for the whole year. According to revenue secretary Krishnahari Baskota, it was necessary to achieve the overall target. For the first month of this fiscal year (July16-August 16), it had set a target of Rs 9.78 billion but the ministry exceeded the target and collected Rs 11.74 billion giving an indication of the coming days.
"The collection was Rs 4.02 billion more than that in last fiscal year's same month," Baskota said adding that during the first month of last fiscal year, the ministry had collected Rs 7.72 billion revenue. "The 52.2 per cent higher revenue collection in the first month in comparison to the corresponding month in the fiscal year 2008-09 shows that we can achieve the target easily," he added.
According to the ministry, among all taxes the Value Added Tax (VAT) will fetch in the most revenue, followed by customs. The ministry is set to collect Rs 51.56 billion in VAT and Rs 33.12 billion in customs. The collection from excise duty would be Rs 19.64 billion and that from education service tax Rs 120 million, according to the target. It has planned to collect Rs 26.25 billion in non-tax revenue.
The ministry has set Rs 25.67 billion -- the largest collection target -- for the last month of the fiscal year -- that is June16-July 16, 2010. The second largest collection it is eyeing during the sixth month of the fiscal year is Rs 20.10 billion. It is but natural that the sixth and the last month of the fiscal year are bigger revenue earners.
The ministry is also encouraged by the campaign to register for service sector employees and professional consultants in the permanent account number (PAN ) to boost revenue. It has started PAN registration for the individuals who have regular income. Through PAN registration the state aims to tighten its grip on professionals providing multiple consultancy services but who are getting away with only a 15 per cent tax contribution.
Monthly Revenue Target
July 16-August 16 – Rs 9.78 billion
August 16-September 16 – Rs 9.25 billion
September 16-October 16 – Rs 9.58 billion
October 16-November 16 – Rs 12.70 billion
November 16-December 16 – Rs 13.53 billion
December 16-January 16 – Rs 20.10 billion
January 16-February 16 – Rs 15.43 billion
February 16-March 16 – Rs 14.76 billion
March 16-April 16 – Rs 17.64 billion
April 16-May 16 – Rs 14.53 billion
May 16-June16 – Rs 13.47 billion
June 16-July16 – Rs 25.67 billion
Total – Rs 176.50 billion
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tourists arrival by air continue to grow
Though the tourists season yet to start the monthof August has observed a growth in tourists arrival by air and Chinese tourists top the list in growth.
The figures of Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) reveals that tourists arrival in August -- compared to the same month last year -- have increased by five per cent to 27,676.
This August, there has been a robust growth of 87 per cent in tourist arrivals from China. Similarly, the arrivals from Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand have also increased by 27 per cent, 44 per cent, 21 per cent and nine per cent respectively.
The Asian markets to decline in this month were Malaysia (13 per cent) and Chinese Taipei (21 per cent). In aggregate the Asian segment has registered a positive growth of 26 per cent.
In the SAARC region, arrivals from Bangladesh and Pakistan have witnessed positive growth of 23 per cent and 22 per cent respectively. However the arrivals from India have decreased by 10 per cent compared to the same month last year. Sri Lanka also witnessed a negative growth of one per cent this month, according to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).
An overall positive growth of 11 per cent has been observed from the European markets with arrivals from France up by nine per cent, Germany by 34 per cent, The Netherlands by 20 per cent, Spain by nine per cent and Denmark by 50 per cent.
The only market to decline in this month was the UK by 24 per cent. Tourist arrivals from New Zealand and Canada have also registered robust growth of 22 per cent and 88 per cent respectively. The arrivals from United States of America remained stable whereas the Australian market declined by four per cent compared to the same month last year. This is the third consecutive month Nepal has witnessed positive growth in the international tourist arrivals.
Recovery in the arrivals to Nepal in the beginning of second half of 2009 is in line with the marginal improvement observed in some of the economies. Moreover, it also reflects the rebounding confidence of the international tour operators and the resilient nature of tourism economy.
A total of 33,685 foreign tourists departed from TIA in August 2009 up by 20 per cent compared to the same month last year. The number of Nepalis arrivals stood at 46,852 while 51,653 Nepalis departed from TIA in August.
The figures of Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) reveals that tourists arrival in August -- compared to the same month last year -- have increased by five per cent to 27,676.
This August, there has been a robust growth of 87 per cent in tourist arrivals from China. Similarly, the arrivals from Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand have also increased by 27 per cent, 44 per cent, 21 per cent and nine per cent respectively.
The Asian markets to decline in this month were Malaysia (13 per cent) and Chinese Taipei (21 per cent). In aggregate the Asian segment has registered a positive growth of 26 per cent.
In the SAARC region, arrivals from Bangladesh and Pakistan have witnessed positive growth of 23 per cent and 22 per cent respectively. However the arrivals from India have decreased by 10 per cent compared to the same month last year. Sri Lanka also witnessed a negative growth of one per cent this month, according to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).
An overall positive growth of 11 per cent has been observed from the European markets with arrivals from France up by nine per cent, Germany by 34 per cent, The Netherlands by 20 per cent, Spain by nine per cent and Denmark by 50 per cent.
The only market to decline in this month was the UK by 24 per cent. Tourist arrivals from New Zealand and Canada have also registered robust growth of 22 per cent and 88 per cent respectively. The arrivals from United States of America remained stable whereas the Australian market declined by four per cent compared to the same month last year. This is the third consecutive month Nepal has witnessed positive growth in the international tourist arrivals.
Recovery in the arrivals to Nepal in the beginning of second half of 2009 is in line with the marginal improvement observed in some of the economies. Moreover, it also reflects the rebounding confidence of the international tour operators and the resilient nature of tourism economy.
A total of 33,685 foreign tourists departed from TIA in August 2009 up by 20 per cent compared to the same month last year. The number of Nepalis arrivals stood at 46,852 while 51,653 Nepalis departed from TIA in August.
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