Nepal received more international visitors but less Indians in 2024

Nepal received around 1.15 million tourists in 2024, as the tourism industry gradually recovered from the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the latest date released by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), a total of 11,47,567 foreign visitors entered Nepal by air during January- December period in 2024, which is 8.8 percent higher than previous year’s arrival of 10,14,817 visitors.

During the pre-covid period in 2019, Nepal had welcomed 1.197 million foreign visitors by air. Last year’s tourist arrivals show that Nepal recovered by 99 percent in tourist arrivals as compared to the pre-covid period.

However, the number of overall Indian tourist arrival has declined by one percent this year, the NTB adds. In 2024, 317,773 Indians visited the country by air as against arrival of 319,936 Indians registered in the previous year, which means a decline by 0.68 percent

The decline in number of Indian tourists arrival can be attributed to a number of reasons such as road accidents in July, when two buses carrying dozens of Indian tourists went issuing in the Trishuli river and landslides and floods triggered by heavy monsoon rain in September that created a panic killing around 250 people across Nepal, pointed out Mani Lamichhane, director at Nepal Tourism Board.

Although the arrival of tourists fell short of the government’s target of welcoming 1.6 million tourists in 2024, the NTB data show a notable revival in the country’s hospitality industry. If we compare the total arrival of foreign visitors to 2023 data the number increased by more than 132,750 in a year, which is not insignificant.

However, the month of December in 2024 shows a decline in tourist arrival by air. In 2023 December, a total of 96,568 tourists had visited the country by air, as compared to 92,034 registering a 4.7 percent decline. The number of Indian visitors also declined in the similar manner in the month of December as compared to the same month previous year. In 2023 December altogether 32,692 Indians visited Nepal where as in 2024 December, 24,541 Indians had arrived registering a dcline of 24.9 percent.

The share of Indian market also declined this year, according to Lamichhane. THe Indian market comprised 33 percent of the total arrival in 2023, which fell to 26 percent in 2024.

Tourism is the main stay of Nepal’s economy contributing 6.6 percent to country’s gross domestic product in 2023. Similarly, tourism supported around 1.2 million people.