Nepal Tourism Board: Exponential 73.5% growth in tourism arrivals

Stakeholders of the Nepal Travel & Tourism industry received some great news from the Nepal Tourism Board today. Exponential growth has been observed in the international visitor arrivals to Nepal in the month of July 2018.  A total of 73,285 international tourists visited Nepal, a strong growth of 73.5 % as compared to the arrival figures of July 2017. With this, the arrival figures in January – July period reached 593,299; an overall increase of 18 % over the same period in 2017.

Tourist arrivals from India grew by 80.4 % this month in comparison to the figures of same month in 2017. Similarly, the overall arrivals from SAARC countries registered a similar growth of 66.1 % over the same month last year. However, the arrivals from the Bangladesh declined by 9 %.

Visitor’s arrivals from China have continued to soar up by an unprecedented growth of 125.4 % in comparison to the arrivals in the same month last year. Arrivals from Asia (other than SAARC) have also recorded robust growth of 86.2 %.  Likewise the visitors from Japan and South Korea to Nepal also increased by 36 % and 21.9 % respectively.

An overall increase of 54.1 % in July has been recorded from European source markets. Arrivals from the UK, Germany and Spain increased by 68.9%, 53.9 % and 41.2 % respectively. However, the arrivals from Austria declined by 72.6 %.

Australia and New Zealand have also witnessed tremendous growths of 113.9 % and 75.2 % in July 2018 as compared to the figures of 2017. The numbers of visitors from USA and Canada have also grown by 79.6 % and 73.3 % respectively in July 2018.

The strong growth in international arrivals to Nepal is attributed to many reasons. Nepal Tourism Board along with travel-trade sector has focused to increase the numbers by carrying out many travel trade related activities in the major source markets. Promotional programs targeted both at the consumers and trades have been regularly organized in India and China. Destination promotion, travel marts, sales missions, business to business (B2B) and business to consumers (B2C) are the major programs that have been continuously organized in major source markets.

Propelled by steady economic growth and burgeoning middle class, India and China have emerged as the key players in global tourism arena and an unprecedented growth in the outbound of these two countries have been observed. Considering this, Nepal Tourism Board has positioned Nepal as a destination for all seasons and the message has been taken positively by the prospective visitors as well as international tour operators. Further, events of international stature such as Himalayan Travel Mart have given much fillip to position Nepal as a premier holiday destination.

“In addition to the neighboring markets, the Asia Pacific region has seen rapid economic development and dynamic changes in recent time. The positive growth in visitor arrivals from all major markets are highly encouraging and undoubtedly present significant opportunities to travel trade sector and to the entire country. Government’s priority in infrastructure development and announcement of Visit Nepal Year 2020 (VNY 2020) is well received by the national as well as international travel trade” remarks Deepak Raj Joshi, the CEO of Nepal Tourism Board. He adds “We continue to work with the utmost conviction that tourism is fundamental to shepherding us into the brighter future where tourism contributes to a more responsible, sustainable and inclusive economy that benefits all level of our society.”