As part of the plan, NTB launched Nepal’s Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign in India. The special tourism campaign is organized to draw 2 million visitors to Nepal, especially Indians.

“The tourist flow from India by air mounted to 2,00,438 in 2018, registering a 25 percent growth over the number of visitors recorded in 2017,” said Rohini Prasad Khanal, Manager, NTB Corporate Services Department.

Khanal, who headed and represented the NTB delegation in India said that ‘Indians remain the top contributors of Nepal’s international tourists’.

“Nepal received 1,173,072 international tourists excluding overland travelers in 2018, of which the top arrivals were from India, China, Sri Lanka, the US and the UK,” Rohini Prasad Khanal said.

According to Khanal, Nepal plans to initiate operations in two international airports in Lumbini and Pokhara and introduce 100 unexplored destinations in the year 2020. He added that the private hotel sector plans to add 4,000 rooms to hotels under the four and five-star categories in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan.

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Nearing the one million target set during the Nepal Tourism Year 2011 campaign, the country’s industry saw 940,218 tourists in 2017, informed the Department of Immigration (DoI) recently.

“If we count the number of Indian tourists entering Nepal through land route, the arrivals figure crosses the one million tourist arrival target,” says Raju Prasad Poudel, Information Officer at DoI.

According to Poudel, the number of unregistered Indian tourists entering through border points is very high.

Despite missing of the target, the latest arrival figures have offered needed boost to Nepali tourism industry and its entrepreneurs.

Elated at the rise in tourism figures, the President of the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) Amar Man Shakya said, “We could not bring tourists as much as we have expected. But tourist numbers have increased significantly compared to last year. It is a positive thing,” says Amar Shakya.

According to Shakya, the rise in tourist arrivals could not add to the occupancy of hotel rooms.

“Hotel occupancy was around 65 percent only during September to November. We need more tourists to fill our rooms,” Shakya adds.

Meanwhile, Santabir Lama, President of Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) said, “We should not be disappointed because of our failure to meet the target of one million tourists. We were very near to the target. Hence, I consider the year 2017 as a successful year for Nepali tourism industry.”

Lama opined that the new government, as a result of parliamentary and provincial elections, would further boost the development of Nepali tourism sector.

Though Nepal saw a record number of 796,946 tourist arrivals in 2012, the country’s tourism industry suffered a major jolt because of the 2015 earthquake and again recovered in 2016 reaching 729,550 arrivals as a result of tourism promotional activities like Nepal Tourism Year 2011 campaign, among others.

Country-wise, India with 160,832 visitors stood as the major tourism market for Nepal in 2017, followed by China (104,664), United States (79,146), United Kingdom (51,058) and Sri Lanka (45,361) respectively, shows DoI data.

8 Lakh Arrivals Via Air!
Though the bordering tourists from neighboring countries like India travel to Nepal via land route, majority of tourists to the country prefer air travel.

According to the Immigration Office at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), more than 8 lakh (857,352) foreigners travelled to Nepal in 2017 as of December 26, 2017.

While a total of 734,686 tourists travelled to Nepal till October 2017 with a monthly average of 73,468 foreign visitors, the country couldn’t reach the target due to fall in number by almost 165,000 visitors during November and December of 2017.

Against the governmental target of at least 150,000 foreign visitors in November and 100,000 in December, the country saw only 122,666 tourists in these two months.

According to the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN), general election was one of the prime reasons for fall in tourist arrivals in the last two months as tourists usually avoid trips to the tourist destinations during election time.

Also Read:

• 2018 Nepal Tourist Arrivals: 73.5% Rise in July, 18% Rise in Jan-July

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As part of the move, NATTA is conducting a week-long Nepal Sales Mission to Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Bangalore (India) from December 14-21, 2017.

“Like past years, we are organizing tourism promotional events in the international market this year as well. As India and Sri Lanka are the first and fourth largest tourist generating market for Nepal, respectively, we are hopeful that visitors from these countries will increase further after this event,” says Ram Barakoti, Program Coordinator of Nepal Sales Mission.

As part of the tour, Nepali tourism entrepreneurs will be engaged in day-long B2B sessions at both the cities, informed Barakoti.

Stating that Sri Lankan tourists to Nepal come for Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha, Barakoti raised concern that they are opting India for Buddhism pilgrimage. “We will encourage them to start the pilgrimage from Kathmandu,” he added.

In this program, tourism service providers and tour operators will also promote Nepal’s tourism attractions among Sri Lankan tour operators.

“As NAC is operating direct flights to Bangalore, we are hopeful that the number of tourists coming from Bangalore will increase as participating delegates will promote Nepal’s tourism attractions among local tour operators,” Barakoti noted.

NATTA is keen on promoting Nepal among Sri Lankan and Indian tourists as a key destination for historical, religious and natural attractions, added Barakoti.

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