December 3, 2020

Tourism gets momentum

December 3, 2020

3 min read

Tourists at Krishna temple in Patan of Lalitpur on Thursday (Photo-Radhika Kandel/RSS)

Kathmandu: Tourism in Nepal has started getting momentum as the number of tourists has increased despite the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

As many as 20120 tourists have visited Nepal in the last 11 months of 2020. The maximum tourists visited Nepal in the months of January, February and March.

According to Nepal Tourism Board data, a total of 947 tourists visited Nepal in the month of November. The month of last October had seen as many as 1074 tourists. The tourism board also indicated that the advent of tourists has increased by 10%

The tourist arrival data in November shows 447 Americans, 295 British, and 209 Chinese. Similarly, 123 from India, 102 from Russia, 58 from Canada,37 from Japan, 35 from South Korea, 34 from Australia, 33 from France, and 28 from Belgium.

It is expected that the county soon will see increased tourists as the British vaccine for Covid-19 is likely to come into use said board director Mani Lamichhanne.

He also said more use of this vaccine in European countries will pave the way for more tourists to visit Nepal. Britain is the fourth source of tourists for Nepal after India, China and America.

He also said a new hope of tourism revival has been felt after the UK government gave a green signal for the use of the new Covid-19 vaccine in the international market.

The board is mulling over what sort of steps and strategies to take in this context. The government had shut down the country in the wake of the spreading spree of Covid-19 and suspended all flights.

However, the lockdown was eased six months ago and both domestic and international flights were resumed to pave the way for tourism revival in the country.

The government’s grand plan to host Visit Nepal 2020 was also shattered due to Covid-19 and that had crippled most of the industries including tourism and small and medium cottage industries.

The government has declared a financial relief package of 5 billion in this regard through Nepal Rastra Bank.