Foreign tourist arrivals increase by a massive 160 percent

KATHMNDU, MAY 2 : The Nepali tourism sector is gradually recovering from the debiliating impacts of COVID-19 crisis. The latest data suggests that the tourist arrivals from outside the country are on the rise since the beginning of 2022.

According to the statistics from the Nepal Tourism Board, 58, 348 foreign tourists arrived Nepal last month (April) this year, a colossal rise of 160 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year. In April 2021, only 22,450 international travellers had visited the countrt.

. Lately, the rate of tourist arrivals has reached more than half of the tourist arrivals figure in 2019. Director of the Board, Mani Lamichhane ,said 109,299 tourists had visited Nepal in April 2019 and since the beginning of 2022, the arrival graph has been gradually increasing after a significant fall in the two previous years due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The arrivals have reached 53 percent of the figure recorded before the pandemic. In the previous month, the country welcomed 42,006 tourists from various countries and it was 16,975 in January followed by 19766 in February. The Board’s strategic marketing in international source market and the initiatives of tourism entrepreneurs have contributed to reviving the tourism sector, he claimed.