Heartening increase in foreign visitors' arrival by air

Figures released by the Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA,) reveal that visitor arrivals in the month of November 2009, compared to the same month last year, increased by 8 per cent to 39,784.

This November, there was a robust growth of 68.4 per cent and 16.1 per cent in visitor arrivals from China and India, respectively.
Visitor arrivals from Singapore and South Korea registered a positive growth by 38.4 per cent and 34.1 per cent, respectively. In aggregate, the Asian segment registered a positive growth of 20.2 per cent.

In the SAARC region, arrivals from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka registered positive growth by 28.6 per cent and 10.1 per cent, respectively. The only market to decline this month was Pakistan by 17 per cent. In aggregate, the South Asian segment registered a positive growth of 16 per cent.

An overall positive growth of 5.5 per cent was observed from European markets, with arrivals from Belgium, Sweden, Israel, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands up by 38.3 per cent, 27.9 per cent, 16.7 per cent, 2.1 per cent, 30.5 per cent and 8 per cent respectively. However, arrivals from the UK, France, Austria and Norway registered a negative growth of 5.5 per cent, 9.8 per cent, 20 per cent and 5.8 per cent, respectively.

Tourist arrivals from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA also registered robust growth of 27.8 per cent, 14.8 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.

This is the sixth consecutive month that Nepal witnessed positive growth in international tourist arrivals. The growth from India and China has been a major contributing factor in overall increase in visitor arrivals.

This underscores that regional tourism can play a pivotal role in increasing overall visitor arrivals in Nepal. Nepal Tourism Board has strategically segmented India and China as prime markets and accordingly has given higher priority in carrying out promotional activities in these markets. The growth from China and the Netherlands can be safely linked to the addition of two new airlines in 2009.

Some 55,218 foreign tourists left via TIA in November. The number of Nepalese arrivals was 46,130 and departures 58,567. Meanwhile, 9444 foreign nationals and 96 SAARC nationals entered Annapurna Conservation Area and 211 foreigners entered Manaslu Conservation Area in the month.