Nearly 1,68,000 Indian tourists visited Nepal by air during the first six months of 2023, registering a significant increase in their number compared to 97,313 visitors during the same period last year, official data showed on Sunday. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, the Himalayan nation received a total of 4,76,481 foreign tourists by air in the first six months of 2023. This marked a significant recovery of 83 per cent compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019. In the year 2019 (pre-Covid period), Nepal received 5,36,058 tourists by air.
The number of tourists visiting Nepal in the first six months of 2023 was 16.93 per cent less than those visiting Nepal in the same period of 2019. The number of Indians visiting Nepal by air during the first six months of 2023 was 167,605, registering a significant increase as compared to 97,313 Indian visitors in the same period last year, the board said in a press release.
In May, Nepal received a total of 1,53,602 foreign visitors out of which 36,575 were Indians. In June, Nepal received an overall lesser number of international tourists as compared to the same month the previous year. However, the number of Indian tourists was more in June this year as compared to the same month the previous year. Nepal’s tourism industry was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic that broke out towards the end of 2019, with the number of visiting tourists decreasing.
During the first six months, the influx of tourists dropped to 220,815 in 2020, 58,058 in 2021, and recovered to 240,901 in 2022. The number of Indian tourists visiting Nepal in June was encouraging as Nepal started recovering from the Covid pandemic, said Sharmila Kafle, Managing Director of Apoorva Tours and Travel – one of the major travel enterprises dealing with inbound tourists from India. “In the past, Indians mainly used to visit Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu but now a variety of tourists from India with diverse interests are coming to Nepal,” she said, adding that Indians also visit Janakpur, Lumbini, Muktinath and other places in Nepal. Besides Kathmandu, they are also visiting Pokhara and Chitawan. The number of adventure tourists from India is also growing, she added.
“They are going to climb Mt. Everest.” Nepal has also become a hub for Indian filmmakers, she pointed out. Last year, the Indian film ‘Unchai’ produced by Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan was shot in Nepal, she said. The weather in Nepal is relatively cooler than that in India, which is also one of the major factors contributing to the increase in Indian tourists, she added.
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