Shift in Tourist Trends: Nepal's January Visitor Numbers Revealed

India remains the largest source of tourists to Nepal in January, despite a 15.1% decline in visitors compared to last year. While Indian tourists primarily arrive by road, air arrivals saw fewer numbers. Contrastingly, tourist numbers from China and the US increased, highlighting diverse travel patterns.

India continues to be the largest source of foreign tourists to Nepal, according to data released by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) on Monday. However, the number of Indian visitors saw a notable drop, with a 15.1% decrease in January compared to the same month in the previous year.

While India accounted for 20,485 of the nearly 80,000 foreign tourists visiting Nepal, this was a drop from 24,139 Indian tourists recorded during January 2024. It's important to note that these figures solely represent air arrivals, whereas many Indians travel to Nepal by road.

Meanwhile, a different trend was observed in Nepal's second-largest tourism market, China, which saw a 12.7% increase in visitor numbers. American tourists also rose by 14.9%, underscoring varying trends across different source countries for tourists visiting Nepal.

(With inputs from agencies.)