Nepal sees tourism recovering fast after Covid

KATHMANDU: Nepal's tourism industry is recovering faster in the post-Covid era, with 3,26,528 tourist arrivals by air from January to April this year, of which around 28 per cent were Indians.

"Tourist arrivals in the country have increased a lot in the recent period, which is very positive and encouraging," said Nandini Lahe-Thapa, senior director of PR and Publicity, at Nepal Tourism Board.

The tourism board estimated that around 1.2 million tourist arrivals, an equivalent to the arrivals the Himalayan nation achieved in 2020, were expected this year.

"We are no longer concentrating on the traditional destinations such as Kathmandu, Pokhara, Chitwan, and Lumbini," she pointed out.

"Five-star properties are coming up in eastern and western Nepal as well." ''New hotels are being constructed, lots of tourism-related activities are coming up, and new cable cars are being operated," Thapa said.

"We are very positive and hopeful about the prospects of the tourism industry in the country in the post-Covid era," said Thapa. "At the end of the year, we are expecting at least 1.2 million tourists by air, which we had received in 2020 -- the pre-Covid period." "The Indian market has been doing very well after the pandemic. Lots of Indian tourists are coming to Nepal for holiday making," she said.

"Wherever you go, like Pokhara, Manakamana or border areas, you can see a lot of Indian number plate vehicles carrying tourists," Thapa said.

Nepal witnessed in total 98,773 tourist arrivals by air in the month of April, of which 31,437 were Indians, according to the data released by the Nepal Tourism Board.

Last year (2022), a total of 61,589 tourists visited Nepal by air. The tourist arrival in April this year grew by 60 per cent compared to the previous year.

The number of Indian tourist arrivals grew by 39.9 per cent to 31,437 in April this year compared to last April's arrival. In April last year, only 22,476 Indian tourists visited Nepal by air.

The total number of tourist arrivals to Nepal by air in the first four months of 2023 from January to April was 326,528, of which 92,185 were Indians, which comes to around 28 per cent.

Nepal earned foreign currency equivalent to Rs. 32.45 billion or USD 247.70 million from tourism in the year 2022-23, which is a whopping 346.5 per cent increase over the previous year, according to the data released by the Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal.

Nepal received a royalty equivalent to USD 5,652,452 as a fee to climb 27 different mountains, including the world's highest peak Mt. Everest this spring.

Till now, a total of 1,123 climbers, including 256 females representing 126 expeditions, have gotten permission to climb mountains.

From India, 40 people, including 10 female climbers, have permission to climb different mountains, including the tenth highest peak Annapurna and the highest peak Mt. Everest (8,848.86 metres), according to the Department of Tourism.