December 2006 registered a marginal growth of 0.4% in international visitors arrival to Nepal by air route. Visitors arriving from Europe, US and other non-Indian Asian tourist generating countries recorded a growth of 6.1% while Indian arrivals fell down by 8.3% during the month. This was stated in the figures released by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation quoting Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport.

The key contributors to the arrivals from Asia were Japan, China and South Korea which showed an exceptional growth during the month with gains of 36.4%, 7.2% and 70.7% respectively. The South East Asian markets Singapore (-42.6%), Malaysia (-30.2%) and Thailand (-30.2%), however showed some decline.

The European markets too recorded an encouraging growth (12.2%) during the month with arrival numbers increasing from almost all the markets excepting a few. Growth was observed from UK (5.5%), Germany (21.3%), France (25.6%), Italy (33.7%) and Spain (41.9%). The Dutch arrival too increased by 2%, along with arrivals from Nordic countries. The only markets to come down were Austria (-9.4%), Belgium (-14.7%) and Switzerland (-34%).

The Americans too registered a growth of 10.6% while Australian arrivals went up by 2.7%.

The total non-Indian visitors, which contributed 64%, share in overall December arrivals registering a 6.1% growth indicates the growing consumer confidence and interest towards Nepal from the long haul markets.

With the addition of four major airlines (GMG Bangladesh, Air Arabia, Korean Air and expansion of Air China) as well as the announcement of arrival of China Southern, the overall demand of Nepalese tourism has been increasing rapidly in the recent time. With these and other positive development, year 2007 is expected to be a promising year for Nepalese tourism.

In terms of annual arrival figures, there has been a 2.3% gain in air arrivals of international visitors to Nepal in 2006 compared to the year 2005. The year has again been proved to be a year of mixed performance where arrivals were positive in the first quarter (18.7%) while second and the third quarter went down by 0.1% and 5.2%. However, arrivals in the last quarter recorded positive growth especially since the month of November onwards. By the year end both the Indian and non-Indian market segments recorded positive growth despite their varying performances during the year.