With this increment, China has become the second largest tourism market for the country ahead of USA. “The tremendous growth of Chinese tourists is mainly due to increased air connectivity in the region,” Nagendra Prasad Ghimire, secretary at Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA) told myrepublica.com. [break]
At present, four international airlines - China Southern, China Eastern, Air China and Dragon Air -- connect Nepal with Chinese cities. These airlines have increased their seat capacity to facilitate the movement of Chinese tourists to Nepal.
“Chinese people are coming in huge number despite expensive airfare. If we can extend services of Nepal Airlines Corporation to China and introduced competitive fares, the number might go even further,” Ghimire added. He also said the number of Chinese visitors increased due to the publicity of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 campaign.
At present, the national flag carrier has no presence in China.
Along with China, arrival from the entire South Asian region recorded a growth of 12.1 percent, with India (1.8 percent), Bangladesh (110.2 percent), Pakistan (1 percent) and Sri Lanka (11.6 percent) all recording growth.
A total of 6,156 Indian tourists and 1,184 visitors from US visited Nepal in February, according to the statement.
Arrival from other Asian countries also maintained upward trend, led by healthy rise in arrivals from Japan (31.7 percent), Malaysia (38.9 percent), Singapore (55.9 percent) and South Korea (21.6 percent).
However, arrivals from Thailand recorded a negative growth by 54.7 percent. In aggregate, the Asian segment registered a robust growth of 69.5 percent, according to the statement.
The European market also registered a healthy growth of 20.6 percent in February. Arrivals from UK (1.8 percent), France (46.8 percent), Germany (12.4 percent), Italy (44 percent) and the Netherlands (87.5 percent) contributed to the healthy rise from the European sector.
However, arrivals from Norway (-41.8 percent), Spain (-22 percent), Russia (-10.4 percent) and Switzerland (-2.4 percent) declined in the period.
Arrivals from US recorded a healthy growth of 53.2 percent in February. Similarly, Canada, Australia and New Zealand also recorded impressive growths in February.
According to Nepal Tourism Board, this is the ninth consecutive months that Nepal has witnessed growth in international tourist arrivals. “This confirms the improved prospects for Nepal in the year 2010 with rising business and consumer confidence,” NTB said in a statement.
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