According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), China is increasingly becoming one of the most important sources of tourists for Nepal’s tourism industry, accounting for 7.5 per cent of its gross domestic product.Published on : Monday, February 26, 2018
According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), China is increasingly becoming one of the most important sources of tourists for Nepal’s tourism industry, accounting for 7.5 per cent of its gross domestic product.
Deepak Raj Joshi, the CEO of NTB, said that Chinese arrivals today are the “fastest growing segment of tourism in Nepal.”
He said that after 2015, year-on-year, there has been a 20 to 30 percent growth in the number of Chinese arrivals in Nepal.
Joshi further said, “Only a decade ago, Chinese tourists amounted to about 30,000-35,000 annually. This year we are expecting nearly 40,000 for this Lunar New Year holiday season alone.”
Last year, India was the top tourist source country for Nepal with 160,000 air arrivals, followed by China, at 104,000.
Economically, China has already started to establish a major presence in Nepal, building airports in the popular holiday town of Pokhara, a gateway to the Annapurna Circuit trekking trail and Lumbini, where Lord Buddha is said to have been born.
Currently, five Chinese carriers – Air China, China Southern, China Eastern, Sichuan Airlines and Tibet Airlines, operate flights to Nepal. Chinese tourist numbers are expected to grow more, once cross-border land traffic picks up.
China is now among the top contributors to global outbound travel.
Tags: the biggest sources of tourists for Nepal