Tourist arrivals down 3.9% in first half of 2013

umber of tourists to Nepal via air in the first half of 2013 recorded a drop of 3.9 percent compared to arrival figures of the first six months of 2012.

According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), a total of 282,429 tourists came to Nepal in the first six months of 2913 compared to 294,019 recorded in the first half of 2012.

The drop in tourist arrivals was mainly due to fewer arrivals from South Asia, which holds around 35 percent share in total tourist arrival. According to NTB, arrivals from South Asia went down by 19.2 percent to 88,149 during the review period. Among the South Asian countries, arrivals from India went down by 20.9 percent.

Arrivals from Asia (other than South Asia), however, increased by 18.5 percent, thanks to healthy rise in arrivals from China. Nepal welcomed 28,832 Chinese tourists via in the review period, up by 25.9 percent compared to corresponding period in 2012.

Tourist arrivals from the European region dropped 6.3 percent to 66,535, with the number of tourists from Spain, Switzerland, Germany and Italy falling significantly. Arrivals from the United Kingdom, the biggest source market in the Europe for Nepal, grew by 1.8 percent to 16,002.

According to NTB, tourist arrivals from Australia and New Zealand grew by 24.2 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively, while those from the US increased by a robust 9.7 percent to 21,875.

Tourist arrivals to Nepal have been falling every month this year, except February. In June, tourist arrivals went down by 4.6 percent to 41,259. Number of Indian visitors in the month dropped 15.3 percent to 19,760, while arrivals from China grew by 25.7 percent.