Global recession taking its toll on Nepal’s tourism

April 1, 2009
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The global economic crisis has started showing its impact on Nepal’s tourism sector with sharp drop in visitor arrivals in the month of March. “The global recession is responsible for the decline in tourist arrivals worldwide as traveling is determined by disposable incomes, travel budgets and consumer confidence,” Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said in a statement Wednesday.

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) expects international tourism to stagnate or even decline by 1 to 2 percent throughout 2009.

Figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport, show that tourist arrivals by air dropped by 17.6 percent in March as compared to the same month in 2008.

In South Asia, arrivals from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh registered growth by 12.3 percent and 29.6 percent respectively. However, visitors from India and Pakistan witnessed negative growth of 24.7 percent and 6.3 percent respectively in March.

Similarly, arrivals from other Asian countries Thailand and Singapore maintained the upward trend with 132.3 percent and 50.2 percent growth respectively. However, arrivals from Japan, South Korea and Malaysia witnessed negative growth of 19 percent, 34.2 percent and 7.1 percent respectively. According to NTB, there has been a nominal decline of 0.8 percent in the arrivals from China which reflects the unfailing economic growth of the country compared to other tourist generating markets.

The entire European and Oceania regions registered negative growth of 19.8 percent and 11.6 percent respectively in comparison to the same month last year. Likewise, arrivals from Canada and United States of America also registered negative growths of 9 percent and 10.5 percent respectively.

A total of 32,945 foreign tourists departed from TIA in March 2009. The number arrivals of Nepalis stood at 44,607 while 46,051 Nepalis departed from TIA during the same month. nepalnews.com Apr 01 09