The Iraq war has affected Nepal’s tourism industry as visitor arrivals dipped 10 percent in March compared to the same month last year, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said.

Altogether 19,549 tourists came calling during the month. Arrivals from the U.S., Great Britain, Germany and France fell 23, 38, 35, and four percent respectively.

“The figure clearly suggest that the shrink in the long haul travel can largely be attributed as an outcome of present war in Iraq. 10 percent decline is an indication of long haul segment to Nepal via Middle East which is mostly affected,” the Board said.

But arrivals from India, Japan and Taiwan went up 19, 8 and 27 percent respectively. Tourist arrivals to Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan declined 6.6 percent in 2002 while Sri Lanka and Maldives recorded a whopping 16 percent increase, an official of the World Tourism Organization (WTO), Commission for South Asia, said at the end of a three-day conference in Kathmandu Wednesday.

‘Signals for 2003 are misleading. We do not know with certainty what impact the war will have on the tourism industry,” said Dr. Dawid de Villiers, WTO Deputy Secretary-General. nepalnews.com br April 2