Tourist arrivals to Nepal in the month of September jumped by 20.6 percent to 41,331, from 34,281 recorded during the same month last year.

According to the figures released by the Immigration Office at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), arrivals from the South Asian region witnessed a robust growth of 49.1 percent with significant contribution from Bangladesh (+79.5 percent), India (+40.9 percent) and Pakistan (+43.9 percent). However, arrivals from Sri Lanka declined by 10.6 percent. A sustained growth of 22.8 percent has been observed in arrivals from the South Asian region during the first nine months of 2010, Nepal Tourism Board said in a statement.

The Asia (other than the South Asian region) segment continued to maintain an upward trend with a double-digit growth of 15.2 percent in September. China recorded a growth of 19.7 percent, while arrivals from Malaysia (+68.5 percent), South Korea (+52.1 percent), Singapore (+3.7 percent) and Thailand (+8.9 percent) also grew over the period However, arrivals from Japan declined by 7.7 percent compared to the figure of same month last year.

Among long-haul markets, Europe registered an overall positive growth of 9.4 percent with arrivals from Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spainand Denmark increasing by 33 percent, 5.1 percent, 8.4 percent, 8.2 percent and 45.1 percent respectively. However, arrivals from UK (-5.6 percent), Norway (-23.9 percent), Switzerland (-4.6 percent) and Czech Republic (-32.9 percent) declined in September. Total arrivals from Europe in the first nine months of 2010 recorded a growth of 16.9 percent as compared to the arrival figure of same period last year.

The figures show an increasing trend in visitor arrivals from New Zealand with a growth of 38.5 percent while Australia posted a negative growth of 0.2 percent. Likewise, the US and Canada have registered growths of 7.4 percent and 9.6 percent respectively.

Source :TAAN