KATHMANDU:  The country has seen an influx of over 200,000 tourists in two months alone, a 33 percent up as compared to the same period last year, according to the Department of Immigration. Altogether, 216,214 tourists visited the country in January and February (91,793 in January and 97,694 in February).

A total of 163,694 tourists had visited the country in the same period last year. The tourist inflow in the two months saw a rise by 92.5 per cent in Indian tourists as compared to the same period last year. Likewise, SAARC tourists surged by 85 per cent, and Chinese tourists by 5.3. Tourist influx from European countries including the United Kingdom, Germany and France increased 8.7, 27.9 and 7.6 per cent respectively. In February alone, 7,133 tourists from the United States of America visited Nepal, which is five percent increment than last year.

Dipak Raj Joshi, chief executive officer of the Nepal Tourism Board, credited it to various promotional activities carried out by the Board and the private sector for the increment. Additional tourism promotional program would be launched to make the government’s announced ‘visit Nepal year 2020’ a success, he said.