Nepal's tourism sector sees notable recovery with 13% growth in 2024

Kathmandu, Jan. 3: Nepal's tourism sector witnessed a remarkable resurgence in international visitor arrivals in 2024, with a notable increase in the number of international visitors to the Himalayan nation. 

According to Nepal Tourism Board, Nepal welcomed over 1.147 million tourists in 2024, marking a significant recovery and growth of nearly 13.1 per cent compared to the previous year.

With 92,034 international tourists visiting in December, Nepal received 1,147,567 foreign tourists in 2024, according to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).  

A total of 1,014,882 foreign tourists visited Nepal in 2023.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NTB Deepak Raj Joshi said that the remarkable growth in international visitor arrivals has been made possible through the synergy of collective efforts and the spirit of partnership fostered from the very beginning. 

He said that the tourism sector has achieved a 96 per cent recovery of pre-pandemic visitor levels, despite the pandemic being the most significant crisis in the industry’s history.

Joshi said that collaboration with the travel trade sector and media is the key to elevating Nepal’s tourism to new heights. 

He added that Nepal’s image as one of the most preferred tourist destinations has been further strengthened, as evidenced by the robust growth in visitor arrivals. 

Director of NTB Mani Raj Lamichhane said that the increment of tourist arrival in the country in 2024 is encouraging and arrivals in 2024 have been the highest since the coronavirus outbreak.

He said, “An average of 3,144 tourists came to Nepal daily. This is the first year that many tourists have come after the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to COVID, tourist arrivals were almost at a standstill from 2020 to 2022, but have been gradually increasing since then." 

Lamichhane said that continuous efforts of NTB and private sector in marketing, Nepal Premier League (NPL), World Buddhist Conference, International Balloon Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, as well as national and international fairs and exhibitions have also increased tourism arrivals. 

More than 800 people came on charter flights in Kathmandu and Bhairahawa for the Buddhist Conference.

Despite natural disasters, air and road accidents, travel inconveniences, and increased airfares, the tourist inflows witnessed a positive growth, he said.

According to him, it would be 96 per cent recovery almost in line with the global recovery of 97 per cent.

The COVID-19 affected tourism sector is gaining momentum from the fiscal year 2022/23.

About 1.01 million tourists arrived in Nepal in the last fiscal year 2023/24 while the number was 614,000 in 2022/23. 

Nepal received 1.197 million foreign tourists in the fiscal year 2019/20, which plunged to 230,000 in fiscal year 2020/21 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number declined further to 150,700 in the fiscal year 2021/22 as the virus gripped the entire world.

Highest tourist arrival in March 

The highest number of tourists - 128,167 - entered Nepal in March 2024 while 124,393 tourists entered Nepal in October this year. Similarly, about 79,100 tourists came to Nepal in January, 97,426 in February, 111,376 in April, 90,211 in May, 76,736 in June and 64,599 in the month of July this year. 

Likewise, a total of 72,719 tourists came to Nepal in August and 96,305 in September 2024 and 114,501 came to Nepal in November 2024.

According to the NTB, the tourist arrivals increased by 43.6 per cent in January, 33 per cent in February, 28.9 per cent in March, 12.8 per cent in April, 16.1 per cent in May and 6 per cent in June compared to the corresponding period in 2023.

Likewise, foreign visitors increased by 11.9 per cent in July, 8.3 per cent in August, 5.8 per cent in September, 6 per cent in October and 5.4 per cent in November, 2024.

Even though overall tourist arrival in 2024 increase, the number of tourist arrival in the month of December has decreased by 4.7 per cent as compared to the same period last year. A total of 96,568 tourists visited Nepal in December 2023.

Highest tourist arrivals from India, followed by USA

The highest number of tourists arrived in Nepal from India in 2024. A total of 317,772 tourists have come from India while 111,216 tourists from the United States of America (USA) and 101,879 tourists from China have visited Nepal, according to the NTB.

Similarly, 57,554 tourists from the United Kingdom, 48,848 tourists from Bangladesh, 43,980 people from Australia and 30,745 tourists from Thailand visited the country. 

A total of 30,226 people from Sri Lanka, 29,801 people from Germany and 27,071 people from South Korea have come to Nepal in 2024. 

The overall arrivals from SAARC countries experienced solid growth, increasing by 5.9 per cent compared to the previous year, with a total of 417,845 visitors. 

Among these, arrivals from Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka showed significant positive growth of 33.9 per cent, 42 per cent, and 38.3 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, visitor arrivals from India, which totaled 317,772, saw a slight decline of 0.7 per cent compared to 2023.

The European arrivals have also surged with healthy growths from the key markets. Arrivals from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands were 57,554, 29,801, 25,126, 14,474, 13,968, and 11,393 respectively with growth of. 8.9 per cent, 10.5 per cent, 8.5 per cent, 11.8 per cent, 12.7 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively. 

The total European arrivals in 2024 reached 206,841 with regional aggregated growth of 10.4 per cent.

Similarly, total number of the US visitors to Nepal in 2024 was 111,216, an increase of 10.8 per cent over the figures of 2023. 

Likewise, the number of Canadian visitors to Nepal in 2024 was 16,074, which is 9.4 per cent more than in 2023. 

In Oceania, both Australia and New Zealand registered robust arrival figures of 43,980 and 4,231 respectively with growth of 13.4 per cent and 18.4 per cent respectively.