Proceeding the positive trend driven by the record tourist arrivals in 2017<\/a>, Nepal started witnessing a further rise in the number of tourist arrivals in 2018.<\/p>\n Inching closer to the Visit Nepal 2020<\/strong><\/a> landmark, Nepal Tourism Board registered a tourist arrival record of 1,173,072<\/strong> arrivals between January-December 2018!<\/p>\n The Board projected a 17 percent increase compared to the same period in 2017.<\/p>\n Nepal Tourism witnessed a growth of 24 percent with 1,173,072 foreign tourists<\/strong> visiting Nepal in 2018 against 940,218 in the previous year!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Following are the statistics of tourists according to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB):<\/strong><\/p>\n Tourism stakeholders are happy with this achievement of reaching the magical number which has been sought after, since two decades.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was possible only because all of us worked hard. The coordination between government agencies, tourism entrepreneurs and media has helped us take tourism to the next step,\u201d said NTB CEO Deepak Raj Joshi<\/span>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n NTB has started a campaign Visit Nepal 2020 to draw two million tourists by 2020. However, the goal is seeing a lot of hurdles, the Pokhara international airport is one among them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Tourism Board believes that it will be easy to bring in tourists if a new international airport would be ready by 2020.<\/p>\n According to the Board, the tourism curve continued upward throughout the peak tourist season between October-November, 2018. Surprisingly, the increased tourist number during the period excludes overland international visitors.<\/p>\n If the tourist growth rate was calculated including tourists arrivals via land, then the figures would have jumped to 23 percent.<\/p>\n India topped the list of tourist arrivals in Nepal between January-November 2018 with a record 260,124 visitors, followed by Chinese tourists at 134,362 arrivals, Thailand, Japan and South Korea.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Beyond neighboring countries, Nepal also tourist arrivals from Europe, US and Australia with a healthy growth of 224,206, 82,870 and 33,528 tourists, respectively.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nepal Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer Deepak Raj Joshi attributed Nepal\u2019s reinforcement as one of the most preferred tourist destinations, to the country\u2019s extraordinary visitor growth rate<\/p>\n \u201cThe growth can be attributed to concerted efforts of Government of Nepal<\/a>, Nepal Tourism<\/a> Board, private sector travel trade and media towards promotion of overall tourism sector in the international tourism arena,\u201d said Joshi<\/span>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The tourism season has kicked off in Nepal with a 33.8 percent increase in September 2018!<\/p>\n Nepal experiences Autumn in the period between September- November, which is considered the \u2018best time\u2019 to visit the Himalayan Nation. <\/p>\n According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), 91, 820 foreigners visited Nepal in September 2018 alone.<\/p>\n Currently, the Nepal tourism industry is doing well going by the number of tourists who have visited the country since January 2018. NTB has recorded a total of 772, 798 foreigners, which has increased by 20 percent compared to the same period in 2017.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to NTB statistics, following is the summarization of tourist arrivals by the country during the month of September 2018:<\/p>\n NTB Chief Executive Officer Deepak Raj Joshi credited the \u2018rigorous promotional activity<\/a>\u2019 for the healthy growth of Nepal\u2019s tourism sector.<\/p>\n Nepal earned Rs 67.09 billion from its tourism<\/a> industry in FY 2017-18.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Witnessing an upward curve in the month of July, visitors to Nepal increased to 73.5 percent for the Jan-July period of 2018!<\/p>\n The magnificent increase is attributed to the rise in the number of tourists from countries like India, China, UK, and USA, according to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) statistics.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to neighboring markets, the Asia Pacific region has seen rapid economic development in recent times. The positive growth in visitor arrivals from all major markets is highly encouraging and undoubtedly present significant opportunities to the travel and trade sector and to the entire country,\u201d said Deepak Raj Joshi<\/span>, CEO, NTB.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Although there are a number of reasons behind the increasing numbers, NTB has identified \u2018promotional programs\u2019 as one of the key reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cDestination promotion, travel marts, sales missions, business to business (B2B) and business to consumers are the major programs that have been continuously organized in major source markets,\u201d reads a press statement issued by the NTB.<\/p>\n Recent statistics by the Department of Tourism have shown a 9.6 percent rise in the number of tourists visiting Nepal in the month of May 2018, year-on-year.<\/p>\n When it comes to the overall 2018 tourist arrivals in Nepal, the first five months of the year saw a 12.5 percent year-on-year growth.<\/p>\n According to the department, a total of 68,825 foreign tourists visited Nepal during the month, with SAARC countries alone showing a 2.2 percent rise over the same month last year and Asia (other than SAARC) accounting to 14.2 percent rise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n24 Percent Growth Year-on-Year<\/h3>\n
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India Tops List of Tourist Arrivals in Nepal<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Autumn Kick-Starts Nepal Tourism Season<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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July Tourist Arrivals in Nepal Touch 73.5 Percent<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Nepal July 2018 Statistics:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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May 2018 Tourist Arrivals in Nepal<\/strong><\/h4>\n