According to the statistics of Immigration Office at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), a total of 44,571 visited Nepal via air during the month. Despite the meager growth, almost all the regions posted positive growth in August.[break]
Arrivals from India and China - two consistent markets for Nepal - declined during the month. A total of 14,307 Indian tourists visited Nepal during the review month, down by 1.2 percent compared to August, 2011. Despite this, overall arrivals from the South Asia region grew by 4.2 percent thanks to healthy growth in tourist arrivals from Bangladesh (+72.3 percent) and Pakistan (17 percent).
Similarly, arrivals from China - one of the fastest growing markets for Nepal - declined by 8.3 percent. A total of 4,097 Chinese tourists visited the country in August.
Arrivals from Asia (other than South Asia) posted nominal growth of 0.6 percent during the month. Arrivals from Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand increased during the period.
Likewise, overall arrivals from European market grew by 6.1 percent with positive growth from Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia and Sweden.
Total tourist arrivals over the first eight months of 2012 has increased by 16.3 percent to 377,043 compared to arrival figures of the same period last year.
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