Tourist arrivals on steady upswing

KATHMANDU - The tourism industry is bouncing back fast. The performance in March reflected the continuing upswing with a 17.3 percent rise in visitor arrivals. The data issued by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) shows that some 40,032 tourists visited Nepal during the month, up from 34,122 during the same period last year.
The Indian market that was in a downturn has rebounded. The flow of Indian vacationers rose by 9 percent. A total of 7,371 Indian fun seekers came to Nepal during March, up from 6,785.
The European market too was on an upswing. Arrivals from the continent showed a healthy growth of 29 percent to 14,885 persons, up from 11,564.
“The prime factors of continued growth are stable political situation and shored up confidence of both tourists and tour operators in Nepal,” said the NTB in a statement.
The NTB said good air connections between Kathmandu and other international cities have contributed to raising tourist arrivals.
Tour operators said more foreign wholesalers had begun selling packages to Nepal as they didn't have to worry about safety anymore.
According to the NTB data, the number of tourists from Denmark, Sweden and Norway jumped by 178 percent, 134 percent and 83 percent respectively. Some 729 Danish, 290 Swedish and 385 Norwegian holidaymakers visited Nepal.
The number of British tourists grew by 27 percent to 4,113. Tourists from France increased by 34 percent to 2,181.
The growth in the number of American visitors was equally impressive, up 42 percent to 3,103 individuals.
However, some Asian markets like Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Israel performed poorly.
Overall, tourist arrivals in the first three months of 2008 increased by 16 percent to 96,137 persons.
After the end of the conflict, the tourism industry has been rising steadily from the depths. Nepal welcomed a record half a million tourists in 2007.