Visitor arrivals to Nepal by air in October this year increased by 12 per cent to 62,712 as compared to the same month last year, according to figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
The number of tourists who visited the country last month from the South Asian region went up by 13.7 per cent with Bangladesh (34.7 per cent) and India (17.1 per cent). However, arrivals from Pakistan and Sri Lanka declined by 39.2 per cent and 36.8 per cent, respectively.
Visitor arrivals from the South Asian region grew by 21.9 per cent during the first 10 months of 2010 as compared to the same period last year, a press release issued by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) stated.
But Asia (other than the South Asian region) posted an overall decline of 2.3 per cent in October. However, the number of tourists coming from Japan and South Korea surged by 9.2 per cent and 26.1 per cent, respectively. Arrivals from China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand decreased by 8.7 per cent, 8.9 per cent, 24.5 per cent and 22.4 per cent respectively, in comparison with the same period of 2009.
The European market registered an overall growth of 14.5 per cent compared to the same month last year with total visitor arrivals of 29,681, highest of all on month-by month basis in 2010. Arrivals from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom went up by 29.6 per cent, 56.7 per cent, 18.8 pr cent,19.3 per cent,42.6 per cent,7.7 per cent, 19 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.
Visitor arrivals from Australia and New Zealand also grew by 6.8 per cent and 10.6 per cent, respectively.
Similarly, the number of tourists who visited Nepal the United States of America and Canada last month increased by 32 per cent and 28.5 per cent, respectively as compared to the same month last year.
During the period from January to October, arrivals from India grew at an average of 18.1 per cent, China (44.8 per cent), Germany (21.8 per cent), France (18.3 per cent), UK (7.1 per cent) and USA (17 per cent).
October remained the strongest among all the first 10 months of 2010, ahead of March (44,431), September (41,331) and April (38, 694) on a month-by-month basis. The visitor arrivals totaled 364,115 between January and October, up by 18.4 per cent compared to the same period last year, the NTB informed.
A total of 57,663 foreign tourists departed from TIA in October this year, while the number of Nepalese arrivals was 73868. A total of 51,177 Nepalese departed from TIA last month.
