9,855 Malaysian Tourists Visit Nepal In 2015, A Decline Compared To 2014

By Yuba Nath Lamsal KATHMANDU, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- A total of 9,855 Malaysians visited Nepal last year, almost half of the total number of Malaysian tourists visiting Nepal in previous years. The decline was mainly due to the devastating earthquake in April last year, Prasant Aryal, member of the Nepal Tour Operators' Association, said. According to the Nepalese tourism department's statistics, 18,915 Malaysians visited Nepal in 2014 while 2013 saw 18,842 visitors. However, the overall number of foreign tourists to Nepal rose 13 per cent over the first half of 2016 compared to the previous years as the Himalayan Republic slowly recovers from the 7.9 Richter scale earthquake, which killed over 8,000 people. According to Nepalese department of immigration (DoI) statistics, a total of 313,512 tourists from different countries visited Nepal in the first half of this year (January-June), against 277,992 in the same period in 2015. This number is still lower compared to the same period in 2014 where Nepal received 412,461 tourists in the first six months, the half yearly report of the DoI states. However, Nepalese travel trade entrepreneurs are expecting more foreign tourists in the peak autumn season (September-November), which is considered the peak tourism season in Nepal, as it recovers from the earthquake. Following the earthquake, many international airlines cut the number of flights to Kathmandu, which was also the cause of the steep decrease in the number of tourists to Nepal last year. "The situation has returned to normal as not only airlines have resumed their regular services to and from Nepal, but some additional international airlines have also started their flights in Nepal, which is expected to augment the number of foreign tourists in Nepal," Aryal said. Nepal witnessed a record decline in tourist arrivals in 2015 with only 538,970 foreigners visiting the country compared to over 800,000 tourists in previous years, according to the tourist fact-sheet of tourism department. India is the number one source country of tourists in Nepal followed by China and the US. A total of 75,124 Indian tourists visited Nepal last year followed by 66,984 Chinese and 42,867 Americans. -- BERNAMA