ENCOURAGING GROWTH IN TOURIST ARRIVALS

Kathmandu, 1 Feb.: Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) said Tuesday visitor arrivals in January 2011, compared to the same month last year, have increased by 26.2% to 32,914.

All regions have shown positive growth in the first month of 2011.
India which constitutes the major market of Nepal, has recorded positive growth of 35.5%.
In the SAARC region, arrivals from Bangladesh and Pakistan have registered positive growth by 10.3% and 13.3% respectively.
But arrivals from Sri Lanka declined 47.5%.
In aggregate the South Asian segment has registered a positive growth of 28.8%.

Arrivals from Asia (other than South Asia) have also recorded positive growth of 36.6% in aggregate with all markets showing improved performance.
Visitor arrivals from China increased significantly 79.6%. Similarly, the arrivals from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea have also increased by 8.2%, 51.9%, 29.1%, 3.2%and 20.3% respectively.

An overall positive growth of 14.6% has been observed from the European markets with arrivals from major generating markets such as the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia up by 7.5%, 35.3%, 48.9% and 40.3% respectively. However, the arrivals from France, Italy and Switzerland have declined by 17.4%, 5.0% and 5.5% respectively compared to the same month last year.

Tourist arrivals from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA have also registered robust growth of 23.8%, 59.7%, 9.8% and 27.6% respectively.

Nepal has enjoyed a sustained positive growth in the international visitor arrivals since June 2009 and the trend continues even in year 2011.
Altogether 40,507 foreign tourists departed from TIA in January 2011. The number of Nepalese arrivals stood at 64,755 while 72,100 Nepalese departed from TIA in January 2011.
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