Visitors arrival in Nepal decline

Asia-Pacific

Visitors arriving to Nepal by air route during the month of April 2006 recorded a 2.2% decline compared to the same month of last year. 18,465 visitors came into Nepal during the month. Indian visitors number plunged by…

Visitors arriving to Nepal by air route during the month of April 2006 recorded a 2.2% decline compared to the same month of last year. 18,465 visitors came into Nepal during the month. Indian visitors number plunged by 23.9% while non-Indian arrivals increased by 6% during the month. This was stated in the provisional figures provided by Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, quoting Immigration Office, TIA.

Visitors number, which was notably up by more than 35% until the first half of the month helped maintain the month`s figure since the second half observed remarkably low arrivals owing to the mass rallies and curfews in different parts of the country. Arrivals particularly from short haul market like SAARC and South East Asia recorded a decline while the long haul market numbers remained almost unchanged during the month.

SAARC arrivals went down by 26.6% while the other Asian markets have too decreased by 10.7%. Arrivals from Japan, Taiwan and Singapore came down by 2.5%, 12.1% and 16.1% while South Korea remained as the only Asian country to grow by 17.3%.

From among the European market, France (2.8%) and UK (38.9%) showed some growth and also emerged as two major contributors in visitor numbers last month as their combined market share stood at almost 20%. Markets to rise were Austria (62.2%), Belgium (43.8%), Switzerland (3.8%), Spain (139.5%), Israel (3.7%) and Sweden (18.9%). Negative growth came from Denmark (-4.5%), Germany (-7.0%), Italy (-15.9%), the Netherlands (-17.6%) and Norway (17.8%). Interestingly though, arrival from Australia and New Zealand both increased by 12% and 44.5%, while the arrivals from USA and Canada went down by 15.2% and 22.5% % respectively.

On his remarks to the arrival trend in April 2006, NTB CEO Mr. Tek Bahadur Dangi said It is indeed a strength of Nepalese tourism industry that despite some internal disturbances, tourist arrival has not dwindled during the month. It speaks of the visitors` confidence towards the destination. And now with the final achievement of peace and stability in the country and the amount of international exposure Nepal received during the month, brighter days for tourism are back again. As an industry we need to be more prepared to welcome the tourists who have long waited to visit Nepal.

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