China retained the top spot as Nepal’s tourism source market in the first four months of 2019, sending 20.64 percent more tourists year-on-year. Nepal received 64,578 Chinese tourists during the period January-April, according to the statistics of the Department of Immigration.

Tourist arrivals from India increased 19.1 percent year-on-year to 44,827 individuals during the review period. Total tourist arrivals to Nepal swelled 15.3 percent year-on-year to 445,109 in the first four months of 2019. According to the department, 362,840 international visitors came by air and 82,269 came overland during the review period.

Arrivals from Sri Lanka increased 55.17 percent as compared to the same period last year. The number of tourists from Bangladesh decreased sharply by 33.5 percent. Arrivals from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries posted a sturdy growth of 19.22 percent over the same period last year with 97,168 tourist arrivals.

Visitor numbers from Thailand, South Korea and Japan also increased significantly by 43.1 percent, 7.18 percent and 17.22 percent respectively compared to 2018 figures. With regard to European source markets, tourist arrivals during the period January-April inched up 2.73 percent from last year to 85,027. Arrivals from the UK and Germany increased 3.82 percent and 19.01 percent while Spanish and French arrivals decreased 8.21 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.

The number of the US visitors to Nepal in the first four months of 2019 totalled 32,740, an increase of 10.8 percent compared to the same period last year. The number of Australian visitors to Nepal reached 13,010, up 3.3 percent year-on-year. The number of international visitors in April was recorded at 104,198, an increase of 5.6 percent year-on-year. The March-May period is one of the peak tourist seasons in the country with many high-end visitors come to Nepal for mountaineering and trekking.

Arrivals crossed the coveted one-million mark for the first time in 2018 with 1.17 million foreign tourists streaming into the country, up 24.77 percent year-on-year. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, Nepal tourism reached the magic figure due to a jump in arrivals from India, China, the US, Sri Lanka and the UK.

Among the total arrivals, 969,287 individuals came by air. Arrivals from Nepal’s southern neighbour grew 25.1 percent to 200,438 individuals. Indian tourists who travel to Nepal overland are not included in the tourism statistics.

Arrivals from China saw the strongest growth of 46.8 percent to 153,602 individuals in 2018, largely due to increased flight frequencies between the two countries. According to the statistics, 26,694 Chinese visitors entered Nepal through the Rasuwagadhi border point.