Tourist arrivals by air up in August

Foreign tourist arrivals by air in August went up by 5 percent to 27,676 persons compared to the same month last year. This is the third consecutive month Nepal has witnessed a rise in international tourist arrivals, said the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).

However, the country witnessed a decline in the number of tourists over the last eight months by 3.3 percent compared to the same period last year. The number of tourists arriving in Nepal over the period stood at 217,242 against 224,679 during the same period last year.

The NTB says that the rise in the number of visitors in the second half of 2009 is in line with the marginal improvement in the economy of some countries. "It also reflects the rebounding confidence of international tour operators and the resilient nature of the tourism economy," it said.

Although tourists arrivals from most regions remained significant, the decline in Indian tourists by 10 percent limited the growth at just 5 percent. The share of Indian tourists in Nepal remained at 28 percent during the last eight months.

According to the latest data, tourists arrivals from the South Asian region declined by 6 percent although visitors from Bangladesh and Pakistan saw a growth of 23 and 22 percent respectively. However, their contribution to the overall tourist arrivals is insignificant. South Asia represents the largest share in overall tourist arrivals in Nepal and its share has remained at 32 percent during the last eight months.

Nepal's second largest tourism market is Europe which constituted a 29 percent share in total tourist arrivals over the last eight months. Visitor arrivals from Europe in August went up by 11 percent to 9,596, up from 8,682 in August last year.

The European market witnessed a positive growth with arrivals from France up by 9 percent, Germany 34 percent, the Netherlands 20 percent, Spain 9 percent and Denmark 50 percent. The only market to see a decline in August was the U.K. by 24 percent.