Tourism revenue falls in Nepal

Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) may have brought a record number of tourists in 2011, but their average per day spending has dropped to a 10-year low.

Arrivals reached an all-time high of 735,965 in 2011, up 22.1 per cent compared to 2010. But average spending by tourists has dropped to US$ 39.90 last year against US$43.20 of 2010, according to a preliminary study of the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoTCA). The average spending in 2011 has been calculated at the exchange rate of 78 rupees per US$ 1.

Government officials said that the reason behind the fall in tourist spending despite a growth in numbers was yet to be ascertained. However, they said that three major factors could be possible reasons—an increase in same-day visitors particularly pilgrims from the Southeast Asian market, a drop in quality tourists and their length of stay.

Although pilgrims are considered to be big spenders in other countries, lack of tour packages by Nepali agencies has forced them to buy travel packages offered by Indian agencies. Travel trade entrepreneurs said that over 90 per cent of pilgrim packages were being managed by Indian travel agencies.