Tourist arrivals via air in the month of April dropped 8.9 percent to 54,119 in April compared to the figures of the same period last year.
This is the third drop in arrivals in four months of 2013.
The statistics released by the Immigration Office at Tribhuvan International Airport arrivals from India nosedived by 25.3 percent in April. Arrivals from India – the largest tourism generating market for Nepal – plunged 27.6 percent to 38,869 over the first four months of 2013.
Despite drop in number of tourists from India, arrivals from China increased by 26.6 percent. However, arrivals from the South Asia segment dropped 21.6 percent in April, compared to the same month of last year due to drop in arrivals from India, Pakistan (-10.9 percent) and Sri Lanka (3 percent). Arrivals from Bangladesh grew 16.6 percent.
Arrivals from rest of the Asia recorded a growth of 18.1 percent helped by rise in number of tourists from Malaysia (158.3 percent) and Thailand (15.3 percent). However, arrivals from Japan (-9.6 percent), South Korea (-5.8 percent) and Singapore (-4.5 percent) went down.
In European segment, arrivals from France, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and Sweden registered growths of 0.4 percent, 9.9 percent, 7.6 percent, 1.1 percent and 20.7 percent, respectively. But arrivals from the UK, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and Russia declined during the review period. Arrivals from Australia, New Zealand and the US, however, increased by 6.7 percent, 5.2 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.
Source: TAAN
