Tourist arrivals grew by a record 46.5 percent in the month of September, which has been largely attributed to the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Maoists early that month and the stiff price cuts in airfare.
Reports quoting the Ministry of Culture, Civil Aviation and Tourism today said that a total of 27,511 tourists visited the country during September as compared to 18,785 tourists during the same month in 2004.
Indian visitors to Nepal increased by 151.1 percent to 8, 592 as against 3,416 in the same month last year while the arrivals from third countries grew by 23.19 percent, the ministry said.
A total of 18,919 tourists from countries other than India visited Nepal in September as against 15,370 visitors during the same period last year. Similarly, the number of US tourists rose to 1310, from 1269 while the number of Singaporean, Pakistani, Italian, and German tourists grew by 79 percent, 24, 12 and 11.4 percent respectively, the ministry said.
Despite the current upward trend, the overall tourist arrivals to the country could not exceed 184,695 in the last nine months, down from 11.4 percent during the same period last year.