Tourists touches new low in 2001

Jan-02-2012
KATHMANDU: Tourist arrivals declined by 20.73 per cent in 2001 — the largest ever drop in the history of Nepali tourism, according to official figures revealed here today. According to statistics compiled by the Nepal Tourism Board, 2,98,465 tourists visited the country in the year 2001 by air, compared with 3,76,503 in 2000. Over 86 per cent of the total number of tourists who visit Nepal come by air.

The biggest fall recorded earlier was in 1993 when the hospitality industry registered a negative growth of 12 per cent because of widespread floods, especially in the eastern regions. In 1989, the industry suffered to the extent of nine per cent mainly because of the Nepal-India trade impasse. Nepali tourism began with the downfall of the Rana regime in1951, while official records began to be maintained from 1962 under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism. According to the latest figures, third-country tourist arrivals dropped by 16.52 per cent in 2001 while the decrease in the number of Indian tourists as 33 per cent.

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