Kathmandu, January 3
The Covid-19 pandemic-hit Nepal has reported a further decline in the number of foreign tourists arriving in the country in 2021 from the data of 2020.
In 12 months of the past year that has recently been over, only 150,962 foreigners came to Nepal for travel, informs Nepal Tourism Board. This number is 80,000 less than the figure from the past year as 230,085 foreigners had visited Nepal that year.
As around 1.2 million foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2019, the government had announced the ambitious Visit Nepal Year campaign for 2020 with a target of welcoming 2 million foreigners. However, the plan was called off due to the pandemic.
Whereas the arrival was on the rise in recent months along with more flexible travel rules, the fears of Omicron variant spread has affected the industry of late. The board data show the number was continuously on the rise from May to November, but it slightly dropped in December (from 26,135 to 24,679).
Meanwhile, India has covered the biggest share of foreign tourist arrival (64,673) in 2021, followed by the United States (22,853), the United Kingdom (8,680), China (6,196), and Bangladesh (5,044).
