Tourist arrivals via air up by 16pc

After continuous decline for three months of 2009, tourist arrivals via air during the month of April increased by 15.8 percent.

The figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) reveal that tourist arrivals in April reached 37,819. Last year it was 32,665 in April.

According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the increment in the visitor arrivals reflects and reinforces the resilient nature of tourism economy which can play a crucial role towards recovery of economies which are dependent on tourism.

The entire Asian region registered positive growth except Japan. Visitor arrivals from every market from South Asia registered a positive growth. India which occupies largest share in visitor arrivals in Nepal recorded whopping 27.3 percent of growth. Similarly, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh witnessed positive growths of 61.2 percent, 29.4 percent, and 1.3 percent respectively.

China, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Singapore have regained the upward trend with 27.3 percent, 68.5 percent, 20.9 percent, 73 percent and 61.3 percent of growth respectively. However, arrivals from Japan decreased by 1.3 percent.

The entire Europe and Oceania registered robust growth of 23.3 percent respectively in comparison to the same month last year. However, France and the Netherlands registered negative growth of 3.7 percent and 9.4 percent respectively.  Likewise, arrivals from Canada and US also registered positive growth of 20.2 percent and 5.8 percent.

“The remarkable growth in visitors’ arrival from India and China; our immediate neighbors and major players in the intraregional tourism underscores the need to focus in the regional markets at the time of economic crisis,” stated a NTB press release. 

A total of 41,439 foreign tourists departed from TIA in April 2009. The number of Nepalese arrivals stood at 43,444 while 45,886 Nepalese departed from TIA in April 2009.