Tourist arrivals up 25% in January

Nepal welcomed 91,793 foreign tourists in first month of 2019

KATHMANDU, Feb 13: Nepal welcomed 91,793 foreign tourists in the first month of 2019 – a growth of 25 percent compared to foreign tourist footfalls in January last year.

Data compiled by Department of Immigration and released by Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) shows 77,300 international visitors entered the country via aerial route, while 14,493 were overland visitors.

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A total of 73,187 foreign tourists had visited Nepal in the first month of 2018.

Tourist arrivals from India grew by 20.6 percent 14,650 in January, compared to 12,512 in the same month of 2018.  Similarly, 13,688 Chinese tourists visited Nepal in the review month – a growth of 14 percent compared to 12,027 in January last year.

According to the NTB, total arrivals from SAARC countries grew by 11.6 percent to 17,432.

Among East Asian countries, arrivals from Thailand, Japan and South Korea posted healthy growth of 69.8 percent, 38 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively. 

"The European outbound to Nepal has also surged with healthy growth from key source markets. Arrivals from the United Kingdom, Germany and France grew by 27.2 percent, 19.7 percent and 19.8 percent, respectively, to 4,130, 1,549 and 1,375. Total arrivals from in January 2019 reached 11,966.

Similarly, arrivals from the US grew by 28.1 percent to 7,028 in January. Nepal welcomed 3,526 tourists from Australia in January – a growth of 31.3 percent compared to arrival figures of the same month last year.

Commenting on the growth in tourist footfalls, Deepak Raj Joshi, CEO of NTB, said the growth in international visitor arrivals in the very outset of 2019 became possible because of continuous dissemination of positive messages in the international market. "We appreciate the support from media and all tourism stakeholders for the sustained growth that has continued well in 2019. This growth has encouraged us to work even harder to harness the strengths of both public and private sector in the days to come," Joshi is quoted as saying in a statement issued by the NTB.