2022 so far has seen 193,944 tourist arrivals, as per data shared by the Department of Immigration.
In five months, Jan – May, 2022, April witnessed the highest number of arrivals with 61,589 tourists, and January, the lowest with 16,975 arrivals. The months of February, March, and May were witness to 19,766, 42,006 and 53,608 arrivals respectively.
The highest number of arrivals have been recorded from India – with 74,065 arrivals. The second highest number of arrivals being from the US – 25,966 arrivals.
Only 1,697 Chinese nationals arrived in Nepal during the period, an otherwise large market for Nepal’s tourism sector during the pre-pandemic era. Lockdowns in several Chinese cities, and lack of direct flights between the two nations has been blamed for the dwindling numbers.
Nepal’s tourism industry, which sustains over a one million jobs directly and indirectly, had taken a severe blow due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a 2018 World Travel and Tourism Council research report, Nepal’s tourism sector generated Rs 240.7 billion in revenue in the same year.
This number was expected to grow exponentially in 2020, where a Visit Nepal 2020 campaign was expected to welcome 2 million arrivals in Nepal – however, as measures to control Covid-19 came into place, international tourism came into a grinding halt. Now, as travel numbers increase, travel and hospitality entrepreneurs and workers are optimistic that the industry will rebound.
