The number of South Asian tourists coming to Nepal went down by 12.7 percent in the month of May, largely due to a decline in the number of Indian visitors, who make up almost 40 percent of the total number of tourists coming to the country. A total of 9,324 Indian visitors arrived in Nepal this May compared with 10,791 for the corresponding period last year.
The Indian national election, which took place in April and May this year, was identified by travel experts as one of the reasons behind the decline in the number of Indian tourists. Arrivals from other South Asian destinations such as Bangladesh and Pakistan also went down during that month.
The number of incoming tourists from other Asian destinations, however, has posted mixed results. Tourist arrivals from China, for instance, increased by 36.2 percent, to 772, in May, while the number of Japanese visitors entering Nepal fell by 2.3 percent, to 805, in that month. The number of Japanese visitors coming to Nepal has been continuously declining since the beginning of this year, primarily due to the global economic crisis, which has resulted in millions of job losses in that country.
Although the economic crisis was expected to result in lowered tourist arrivals from Europe and the Americas as well, statistics released by Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) does not corroborate that sentiment.
A total of 5,671 Europeans and 2,773 Americans and Canadians traveled to Nepal in May, up 9.1 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively. However, major European markets like Germany and France have posted a negative growth. The number of German visitors coming to Nepal went down by 9.4 percent, to 793, while the number of French visitors coming to Nepal shrank by 7.2 percent, to 696, in May. Tourist arrivals from the UK, on the other hand, went up by 11.1 percent, to 1,537, in that month.
Many travel experts cannot give a clear cut answer as to which way the sector will head in the coming months: due to the mixed results seen in the tourist inflows in the recent months. Tourist arrivals had declined by 17 percent between January and March but had surprisingly posted an increment of 15.8 percent in the month of April.
Though the global economic crisis is expected to have some impact on Nepal´s tourism industry, as it has everywhere else in the world, a snap survey recently conducted by the NTB had said that it will not have as severe an impact as had been predicted by many.
So far, 143,078 tourists have visited Nepal this year: that´s a dip of 7.8 percent from last year´s figures for the same period.
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