Tourist arrivals by air decrease in February

The tourist arrivals via air in February 2009 decreased by 16.2% to 25,181, as compared to the same month last year.

According to the tourist arrivals data release by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), In South Asia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have registered growth by 40.1% and 78.6% respectively, however, India and Bangladesh witnessed negative growth of 4.6% and 18.1% respectively in the current month.

Similarly, other Asian countries Thailand and Malaysia have maintained the upward trend with 1.5% and 24.2% of growth respectively. However, arrivals from China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore have witnessed negative growth in the arrival figures by 45.5%, 24%, 26.1% and 28.1% respectively.

The European markets except for Denmark (6.7%), Switzerland (8.6%) and Sweden (3.3 %) registered negative growth in comparison to the same month last year.

A total of 25,166 foreign tourists departed from TIA in February 2009. The number of Nepalese arrivals stood at 43,448 while 41,579 Nepalese departed from TIA in February 2009.