Kathmandu, December 25

The travel expenses of Nepali outbound travellers increased to Rs  25.35 billion in the first four months of this fiscal (mid-July to mid-November) against Rs 22.72 billion that foreign nationals spent during their travel to Nepal. This is a trend that has been witnessed since the last four years.

Increased expenses of Nepali outbound travellers weighed on deficit of overall service trade in the first quadrimester of this fiscal, according to Nepal Rastra Bank.

Increasing outmigration of foreign job-seekers, students leaving country for studies overseas, incentive tours of corporate houses, among other reasons, raised the number of outbound travellers. On the other hand, cheaper travel packages offered by the travel agencies also lured Nepali families to go abroad, according to travel and tour operators.

Nara Bahadur Thapa, executive director of Research Department of the NRB, however, said along with increase in inflow of foreign tourists in 2017, the travel expenses of tourists might surpass that of Nepali outbound travellers by the end of this fiscal.

Interestingly, the travel expenses of Nepali outbound travellers have almost doubled over the last four years. Such expenses had stood at Rs 14.9 billion in the first four months of fiscal 2013-14, according to the central bank’s data.

Apart from travel expenses, Nepali students have taken away Rs 12.29 billion in the review period.

Increased transportation costs to ferry goods, travel expenses of outbound travellers and money taken away by Nepali students as fees to study abroad totalled Rs 53.66 billion in the review period. In contrast, the country’s income from sales of services stood at Rs 51.08 billion in the first four months of this fiscal, according to NRB.