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Kathmandu Friday November 03, 2000 Kartik 18, 2057.
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Tourism receives further shock
Arrival dips 14 pc in 10 months
By Gopal Tiwari
KATHMANDU, Nov 2 - Contrary to the
expectation of tourism entrepreneurs that tourism industry would see a further growth in
October, tourist arrivals by air fell more than 13 percent in October this year.
The double-digit decline is a severe blow
to the industry during the peak season. According to statistics given by the Immigration
Department at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) tourist arrivals by air declined by
13.86 percent till October compared to the corresponding period last year.
Commenting on the downward trend in tourist
arrivals, Ashok Pokhrel, President of PATA-Nepal Chapter attributed the reasons for the
low tourist arrivals due mainly to political instability and deteriorating environment in
the Kathmandu Valley.
He suggested that the government resolve
the problems at the earliest in order to revamp the tourism industry, one of the chief
foreign exchange spinners.
The number of tourists who came by air
during the same period last year was 57,894 while the figure this year during the
corresponding period has gone down to 49,871. Worse still, Indian tourist arrivals in the
same period plummeted by 34 percent.
Third country tourist arrivals in October
went down by 8 percent compared to the corresponding period last year. A total of 45,458
tourists visited the kingdom in October last year, which has declined to 41,785 in the
same period this year.
Indian tourist arrivals also declined by 34
percent compared to the previous year. Last year, Indian tourists arrival was recorded at
12,436 in the month of October while the number has gone down to 8,088 this year in the
same month.
According to statistics, the tourist
arrivals ending till October 2000 has been recorded at 300,828 while the number stood at
345,662 during the corresponding period last year, which is a 12.97 percent decline.
Tourist arrivals by air alone occupies 86
percent of all tourists visiting Nepal and the decline is going to hit severely the
tourism sector as a whole.
Tourism industry alone generated US $ 168.1
million in 1999 and US $ 152.5 million in 1998 in the national economy. The sector alone
contributes 4 percent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs more than two hundred
thousand people.
Tourism entrepreneurs often blame Indian
Airlines hijacking on December 24 last year and subsequent boycott of Kathmandu airport by
Indian Airlines for five months for the downward trend in the tourism business.
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