Tourist arrivals to Nepal by air observed an encouraging growth of 62.6 percent in the month of February as compared to the same month last year.

Without a single market declining, there was outstanding growth in February not only from the Asian countries but also from Europe and the USA, the Nepal Tourist Board said citing information released by the Immigration Office at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

The Indian market went up by 54.8 percent followed by remarkable growth from all other SAARC countries. Among other Asian markets, Chinese visitors grew by a whopping 281.6 percent, South Korean (88.8 percent) and Japanese (69.5 percent). The East Asian markets too surged heavily upwards with visitors from Thailand (110 percent), Malaysia (8.4 percent), Singapore (59.2 percent) and Taiwan (29.2 percent). According to the NTB, these remarkable increases in tourist arrival have positioned the East Asian countries as key generating markets for Nepal occupying a market share of 28 percent.

The growth in European market was contributed by increases in arrivals from France (68.6 percent), Germany (23.4 percent), United Kingdom (88.3 percent) as well as improvement in arrivals from Belgium (46.8 percent), Italy (26.1 percent), Netherlands (40.4 percent) and others. Similarly in addition to the rise in Australian visitors (35.2 percent), the American visitors grew by 53.1 percent.

The robust increase in foreign visitors, specifically from South Korea, China and Bangladesh, has been the result of direct air connectivity recently established with these countries. With the improved situation in the country, the rising confidence of international travel trade and consumers has paved the way for more travelers to visit Nepal, the NTB said.