Nepal tourism records significant growth

monstersandcritics.com

The number of tourists visiting Nepal was growing significantly in February, bringing relief to the troubled tourism sector, Nepalese officials said Sunday.

The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), said the number of visitors arriving by air increased by nearly 63 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2006.

The NTB said the figures were pushed up due to a strong growth of tourist numbers from Asian countries, including India, China, Japan and South Korea as well as from Europe and the United States.

Figures distributed by the NTB said a total of 25,656 visitors entered the country through Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu.

India continued to be the biggest single market for the Nepalese tourism sector, making up for 29 per cent of all tourist arrivals. The NTB said, the region was now 'a key tourist generating market for Nepal.'

East Asian markets were also growing fast with 110 per cent growth in Thailand, 59.2 per cent in Singapore and 29.2 per cent in Taiwan. The East Asian countries now had a 28-per-cent market share, according to the NTB.

The 'notable growth' of the European market was mainly due to an increasing number of arrivals from France (68 per cent), Germany (23.4 per cent) and the United Kingdom (88.3 per cent), the NTB said.

The NTB attributed the growth to the improving security situation in the country as well as to the growing number of direct flights from South Korea, Bangladesh and China to Nepal.

The figures are certain to bring relief to the tourism sector in the Himalayan nation, which had gone through a crisis due to the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

Tourism is one of Nepal's biggest foreign exchange earners, bringing millions of dollars to the impoverished country and providing employment to hundreds of thousands of people.

With peace returning to much of the country, the NTB says the prospect of a revival of tourism in 2007 looks bright.

'With the vastly improved situation in the country, the rising confidence of international travel trade and consumers has paved the way for more travellers to visit Nepal,' the NTB said.

Printable Version | published Mar 05, 2007

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