Foreign tourists visiting Nepal crosses 1 million mark

KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 28: For the first time in four years, the country has been able to attract more than 1 million foreign tourists in 2023. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, the number of such tourists exceeded the very mark three days before the completion of this year i.e. Dec.27.

All of them entered by air. The growth in the number of their arrivals is attributed to China’s border reopening, improved air connectivity, etc. Earlier, it was in 2019 that the country received 1.19 million tourists.

Owing to the global onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the following two years saw Nepali tourism hitting rock bottom.  The country was visited by just 230,085 and 150,962 tourists in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Nevertheless, as the pandemic subsided in 2002, the number of travellers from foreign countries rose to 614,869 this year.

As of yesterday, Indian visitors accounted for the largest share at 314,000 (30 percent) followed by American ones (100,000) and Chinese ones (60,000).

In 2019,  254,000, Indian tourists and 93,000 US tourists had come to Nepal.