Tourist arrival exceeds govt's target in 2022

The arrival of tourists has exceeded the government's estimated target in 2022.

The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) had an initial estimate that 500,000 tourists would enter Nepal this year, however, data shows that numbers of tourist arrival is set to cross 600,000. Over 100,000 more tourists than estimated will have visited Nepal by the end of 2022.

The arrival of tourists, which was affected by Covid-19 pandemic earlier, began to grow from early 2022.

According to the data collected by the NTB, Nepal saw a recovery in tourist arrivals by over 50 percent from January to November this year. Till November 2022, as many as 546,000 tourists have already visited Nepal.

"We had targeted to bring in at least 500,000 tourists in 2022," NTB Director Maniraj Lamichhane told Nepalkhabar, adding, "However, that number is expected to reach 650,000 by December."

The World Tourism Organization estimated a 60 to 65 percent recovery in tourist arrivals globally in 2022. Lamichhane said that Nepal could also witness recovery at the same level.

"India has a large market share in terms of the number of tourists entering Nepal," he said, adding, "In 2022, tourists from India, Bangladesh and America have increased."

Though arrival of tourists from Europe is improving, it has yet to reach pre-Covid levels.

Chinese tourists in Nepal make up around 13 to 14 percent, which Lamichhane viewed as minimal in the past three years.

Although there was a 55 percent recovery in tourist arrivals in November, Lamichhane said it was less than expected. Generally, the number of tourists grows by 10 to 15 percent in November compared to October. However, tourist arrival in November this year has decreased, he said.

"As the World Cup is being held in Qatar, Qatar Airways has reduced flights to Nepal and added more flights to Europe," he said, adding, "With the economic recession in United Kingdom, reduced flights and fares going up by 50 percent, people are reluctant to travel."

Qatar Airways had been operating four flights to Nepal, but of late the number of flights has been reduced to two.

Compared to November 2019, there has been only 55.76 percent recovery in tourist arrivals.

Prior to Covid in November 2019, 130,000 tourists entered Nepal, but the number stands at 72,000 this year.

Amid Covid-19's peak in 2020, just 1,956 tourists visited Nepal, while that number grew to 26,135 in 2021.

Looking at the two years before Covid, 1.173 million tourists visited Nepal in 2018 and 1.197 million in 2019. When Covid pandemic spread in 2020, Nepal saw 230,000 tourists entering the country.

The decline of tourists that began with the start of the lockdown from March 2021 was limited to 150,000 the same year.

The number of tourists visiting Nepal is reaching 600,000 again.

Monthly data of tourist arrivals for 2022

In January 2022, 16,975 tourists visited Nepal. According to the Immigration Department, 19,766 tourists entered in February, 42,000 in March, 61,589 in April, and 53,608 in May.

Similarly, the department said 46,957 tourists entered Nepal in June, 44,462 in July, 41,304 in August, 58,314 in September, and 88,582 in October. In November, tourist arrival reached 72,653.

In November, 24,599 tourists visited Nepal from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, while 17,229 tourists visited from Europe.

According to NTB, 3,677 tourists from Oceania countries and 9,150 Americans visited Nepal by air. Indian tourists comprise the highest share of tourist arrival in November. While 20,532 Indians visited Nepal, only 1,038 visited from other neighboring countries. Likewise, 2,218 tourists came from Bangladesh, 5,165 from the UK and 7,831 from America.

"Recovery by next year"

Though the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN) estimated that recovery of tourist arrivals would take another 4-5 years to return to the old situation (pre-Covid levels), it added that recovery would take place by 2023.

HAN General Secretary Sajan Shakya said that there was a good "comeback" in tourist arrivals compared to the previous two years. "The number of tourists arriving here was very low in 2020 and 2021. Now they have grown well," he said.

On the other hand, Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAN) also said that the arrival of tourists was better than expected. TAN President Nilhari Bastola said that the recovery was faster than expected by businessmen.

"We estimated that the tourism sector would return to 2019 level by 2024," said Bastola. "But, looking at the current ratio, it seems that we need not wait until 2024. We can bring in similar number of tourists we saw in 2019 in 2023."

"Hotel occupancy still low"

Meanwhile, businessmen said despite the increase in tourist arrivals, hotel occupancy has not increased proportionately.

HAN General Secretary Shakya said that despite the increase in the number of tourists, hotel occupancy has not increased.

According to him, there were fewer hotels targeting foreign tourists in 2019.

After the government declared 2020 as the Year of Tourism, hotels targeting foreign tourists were built, but tourism industry has yet to restore to the level of 2019.

"The number of five star hotels in the country has reached 17. With numerous 4 and 3 stars hotels, the annual capacity of tourist standard hotels has reached 5 million," said Shakya.

Occupancy in the hotel sector has reached 25-30 percent with 600,000 to 700,000 tourists visiting Nepal. Occupancy rate could not increase as the number of hotels has increased.

With increased tourist arrivals, the economy has also witnessed positive signs. As tourist traffic increases, the pressure on foreign exchange reserves is gradually decreasing.