KATHMANDU: South Asian market’s rebound and China’s sustained growth gives Nepali tourism sector a reason to smile. The arrival of tourists in the first three months — January, February and March — this year compared with the same period last year have also grown by an aggregate of 38.6 per cent.

According to the figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), visitors arriving in March — compared with the corresponding month last year — have increased from 34.6 per cent to 44,431.

The arrivals from South Asian region — excluding Sri Lanka — have gained an impressive 35.3 per cent growth with India alone accounting for 35.5 per cent, Bangladesh 53.8 per cent and Pakistan 3.2 per cent.

Similarly, visitor arrivals from China, one of the fastest growing tourist markets for Nepal, have sustained the remarkable growth of 114 per cent, compared to the figures in March 2009.

Visitor arrivals from India — the largest source market for Nepal — has been increasing since the beginning of 2010. According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), they observed a robust growth of 21 per cent in the arrivals from the South Asian region during the first three quarters of 2010, in comparison to the same period last year.

Other Asian countries maintained the upward trend of previous months with Japan recording a growth of 6.8 per cent and Malaysia 38.4 per cent. Similarly, South Korean tourists growth reached 68.1 per cent.

However, arrivals from Thailand and Singapore declined to 45.9 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively. In aggregate, the other Asian segment has registered a growth of 32.9 per cent, said the NTB.

An overall growth of 42 per cent has been observed from the European markets with arrivals from major markets such as the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands going up by 44.9 per cent, 5.4 per cent, 40.8 per cent, 44 per cent and 128.2 per cent respectively.

Visitors arriving from all the European markets in the first three months of this year — compared with the same period last year — have grown by 34.1 per cent.

The figures also revealed increasing trend in the visitors’ arrivals from the US with a notable 6.5 per cent growth. Similarly, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have also maintained an upward trend with 27.2 per cent, 27.4 per cent and 69 per cent of growths, respectively.

This is the 10th month running Nepal has seen a surge in arrival of international tourists which signals improved prospects for the tourism industry.

A total of 39,221 foreign tourists departed from TIA in March, whereas the number of Nepalis arrivals stood at 51,243. The number of Nepalis departing TIA totalled 68,475.