OCT. TOURIST ARRIVAL SLIPS Kathmandu, 1 Nov.:: Tourist arrival in October 2012 has decreased by 7.3 per cent against the same period last year, according to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB),RSS reports.. A total of 67,901 tourists visited Nepal in October--a peak season in Nepal´s tourism industry. Last year, 73,264 tourists had visited during the same month. The figures released by the NTB reveal that visitor arrivals from the SAARC region have gone down during the month by 28.5 to 8,312. Last year, 11,622 tourists from the SAARC region had visited Nepal during the month. Similarly, arrivals from Europe also registered a negative growth of 17.5 per cent. During this year´s October 28,198 tourists visited Nepal against last year´s 34,166. However, arrivals from Canada and the USA recorded slight growth. Likewise, total arrival of tourists during the first 10 months of 2012 increased by 11.5 per cent to 494,019 Nnnn ________________________________________ THREE KILLED IN RAUTAHAT VEHICULAR ACCIDENT Kathmandu, 1 Nov.: Three persons were killed were killed Thursday and at least 115 were injured, in a bus accident at Dhansar on the Mahendra Highway in Rautahat Thursday. The bus collided head on against a mini-truck.rom the opposite direction. A nine-year-old and a 70-year-old woman were killed. nnnn ANG TSHERING SHERPA APPOINTED HONOURARY MEMBER OF UIAA Kathmandu, 1 Nov.: Former Chairman of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), Ang Tshering Sherpa, has been nominated as honorary member of an umbrella organization of alpine clubs, Union International des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA). A general assembly of UIAA recently held in the Netherlands nominated Sherpa for his contribution in mountain tourism sector. Sherpa is the first Nepali and second person in Asian continent to receive the honour of the International Alpine Club. Sir Edmond Hillary is the first person to get this honour of the organisation. UIAA was established 80 years ago and has representatives of 80 mountainous countries of the world. Sherpa has been active in studies of the Himalayas of Nepal, protection of environment and promotion of tourism for the past four decades. Sherpa said that the honour has further inspired him to involve in protection of Himalayan region and in promotion of mountain tourism. nnnn