KATHMANDU — The month of September 2018 has witnessed a very encouraging growth trend. A healthy growth of 33.8% has been recorded in the international visitor arrivals to Nepal in September 2018. The forward momentum continues in the month of September 2018, with 91,820 international visitors. With this, the arrival figures in January–September period reached 772,798; an accumulative increase of 20% over the same period in 2017.
While tourist arrivals from India grew by 96 % this month in comparison to the figures of the same month in 2017, the arrivals from Sri Lanka surged by 57.1%. Similarly, the overall arrivals from SAARC countries registered a sturdy growth of 52.8 % over the same month last year.
Visitors’ arrival from China has continued to soar with an exponential growth of 55% in comparison to the arrivals in the same month last year. Arrivals from Asia (other than SAARC) have also recorded a robust growth of 42.6%. Likewise, the numbers of visitors from Japan and South Korea have also increased by 8.9% and 9.2% respectively.
European markets generated 66.3% more visitors in September this year. Arrivals from Germany and France increased by 30.9% and 19 % respectively. However, Australia and New Zealand have also witnessed a decline of 9% and 4% in September 2018 as compared to the arrival figures of 2017. Similarly, the numbers of visitors from the USA and Canada have also decreased by 9 % and 2% respectively in September 2018.
Deepak Raj Joshi, CEO of Nepal highlighted that the healthy result is attributed to dedication and commitment towards the betterment of overall tourism business and the industry in general. NTB in close cooperation with Tourism related associations has vigorously promoted in a different conference, convention, and mart. As a result travel trade partners were well acquainted about Nepal as a premier holiday destination. The commitment of tourism suppliers who have been shown tremendous faith in Nepal as a destination has also yielded a positive result.
