Bangladesh ranks sixth inbound tourist market for Nepal in February 2024

Dhaka: Bangladesh has ranked Nepal’s sixth inbound tourism market in February 2024 while India came out as the top, said the country’s tourism authority on March 2. Of the total 97,426 tourists arriving in the country by air in February 2024, 4,099 tourists were from Bangladesh.

Furthermore, 25,578 tourists were from India, followed by China with 9,180 and the US with 9,089 visitors, as per Nepal Tourism Board. Thailand holds the fourth place with 4,799 inbound visitors, while the UK ranked fifth with 4,571 tourists.

According to NTB Director Mani Lamichhane, even though the data showed over 25,000 Indians visiting Nepal in February 2024, the actual number is much higher as a large number of tourists from India visited the country via land route. In January, Nepal received 18,041 visitors from India, further mentioned reports.

The number of tourists arriving via air route in Nepal in February 2024 is 33 per cent up from February 2023, which witnessed arrival of 73,255 visitors. Compared to 2019, the recovery rate is 95.12 per cent as the number of tourist arrival in Nepal in February 2019 was 1,02,423.

This shows how the key sector of the Himalayan nation is recovering from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, added NTB Director.

Nepal's tourism sector is expected to revive in 2024, and the February 2024 data is a positive indication, informed Lamichhane.

As the tourism season starts after March, the number of visitors will significantly increase from then on, he concluded.