Visitor Arrivals surge by 16.3% in October 2008

The figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) reveal that arrival figures in the month of October 2008, compared to the same month last year, have increased by 16.3% to 50,567, the highest in a single month since 2000. The total number of visitors till October 2008 have reached 3,07,748, representing an increase of 4% in comparison to the same period last year.

The entire South Asian nations have gained overall positive growth of 26.3% with Bangladesh and Pakistan registering growth by 73.9% and 35.3% respectively, except for arrivals from Sri Lanka which have decreased by 5.9%. India, the largest tourist generating market for Nepal, maintained a steady growth of 14% in October also.

Similarly, other Asian countries: Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia and China have maintained the upward trend with 150.4%, 53.2%, 24.4%, 23.2% and 1.6%, of growth respectively. However, arrivals from Japan witnessed negative growth in the arrival figures by 10.9%.

UK, Israel, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden have also maintained the increasing trend in the arrival figures. Arrivals from the United States of America and Canada have also increased in October in comparison to the same month last year. However, Italy and Spain have registered decrease in arrival figures by 13.2% and 7.5% respectively.

A total of 49,150 tourists departed from TIA in October 2008.