Officials say the number of people visiting the country by air in July this year registered an increase of 9 percent compared to the same period last year.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the total arrival reached 19,505 during July this year—normally considered as a lax monsoon season. Arrivals from neighboring India, Bangladesh and China grew up markedly in the month. The number of Indian visitors improved by 23%, while the non-Indian segment showed a marginal decline.
Indian arrivals with this gain and considerable market share indicate the mounting confidence towards Nepal, said Nepal Tourism Board (NTB). Persistent media coverage on Nepal as a travel destination and presence of television advertisements in the Indian market has resulted in re-building assurance for visitors. The improving accessibility for the Indian market to Nepal with numerous airlines connecting five cities has certainly added to this increase, a statement issued by the NTB on Sunday said.
The inflow from Bangladesh went up by 78 percent last month, indicating a result of better connectivity and availability of competitive packages. Among the other Asian markets, the gains have come from China (34%), Taiwan (24%) and Thailand (167%). Unlike its positive performance in the first half of the year, the Malaysian market suffered (-10%) as Qatar Airways recently decided to pull out from the sector. The Japanese arrivals, too, declined by 31%.
The American arrivals showed a remarkable increase of 137 percent in the month whereas the European sector showed an overall decline of 7 percent. There were mixed results from Europe with gains from British, Dutch and Belgian markets while decline from Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
“We are at a better position with regards to the connectivity with the India sector at present. This can be of strategic significance if we are able to cater not only the Indian visitors but also to the inbound to India with our connectivity,” said Tek Bahadur Dangi, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board. “The number of tourists visiting India itself is growing rapidly with 4.5 million arrivals in 2004. There is high possibility of floating more joint India-Nepal packages in the long haul markets,” he added.