Nepal eyes Bangladesh tourists

With Bangladesh’s economy showed sustained growth during the 10 years and has been on sound track, Nepal is targeting Bangladeshi tourists.   

In 2022, over 25,000 Bangladeshi tourists visited Nepal, which is close to the pre-pandemic level.

Nepal Ambassador to Bangladesh Ghanshyam Bhandari in an interview with Views Bangladesh said The two countries offer unique and diverse tourist products that can complement each other. In 2022, over 25,000 Bangladeshi tourists visited Nepal, which is close to the pre-pandemic level. However, considering the number of outbound tourists from Bangladesh, this figure remains relatively low. 

“To fully capitalize on the opportunities, we need to promote tourism circuits and build stronger linkages between our touristic destinations. Facilitating smooth and hassle-free travel between our countries through enhanced air and land connectivity will be critical. We can also explore opportunities for collaboration in adventure tourism, medical tourism, and eco-tourism projects. We stand ready to share our experiences with Bangladesh in this regard,” he said.

According to Mani Raj Lamichhane, head of the Research, Planning and Monitoring Department at the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), this is an almost 97 per cent recovery to the pre-pandemic levels, according to the Rising Nepal.

The year immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, was one of the best years for tourism in Nepal.  A total of 1,197,191 foreign tourists entered the country by land and air that year.

This is the highest number the country had ever recorded. This means that, on average, 99,765 tourists came to Nepal every month that year.

But in 2020, the year the corona virus outbreak began in Nepal, the number of foreign tourists plummeted to 230,085.

In 2021, it fell still further to 150,962. The year 2022 saw a slight uptick to 614,869.

To revitalize the tourism sector of the country, the government announced in its budget for the Fiscal Year 2023/24 that it would celebrate the 10 years from 2023 to 2033 as the tourism decade and shared its intention to bring 1 million tourists into the country in 2023, according to the Rising Nepal.

The latter is in line with the target unveiled by the NTB last year and one that it has since maintained is possible by attracting visitors from Asia.

In July 2023, 50 per cent of the total tourists came from SAARC countries. Among them, 21,357 were from India, 26,096 from Bangladesh, 807 from Bhutan, 484 from Sri Lanka, and 372 from Pakistan.

Apart from China, South Korea had 13,075 visitors from Asian countries. Among European countries, the largest number of tourists, 3,630, came from the United Kingdom. There were 1,102 visitors from Australia, and 653 from Canada.

President of Bangladesh Nepal Friendship Society (BNFS) Moshiur Ahmmed while talking to this correspondent said Nepal is a popular tourist destination to Bangladeshis as traveling cost to this South Asian country is less compared to rest South Asian and Southeast Asian countries.

He added that earlier, Nepal used to give on-arrival visas to Bangladesh. However, Bangladeshis now need a prior visa to visit Nepal. However, Bangladeshis can easily get a Nepal visa.       

A member of Tour Operator Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) said nowadays getting an Indian visa is getting complicated ahead of the Cricket World-2023. Persons involved in the showbiz sector prefer the beautiful destinations of Nepal as shooting of dozens of dramas are performed in Nepal.

Zahid Hasan, a popular drama activist in Bangladesh, was made ambassador of Nepal a few years back by Nepal embassy in Dhaka as he visited Nepal on a number of occasions.

Nepal has set a target to attract 1.00 million tourists in 2023. The figures of tourist arrivals for the first 7 months show that achieving this target is quite challenging. To meet the government’s goal, more than 100,000 tourists need to arrive each month from now on.

Apart from China, South Korea had 13,075 visitors from Asian countries. Among European countries, the largest number of tourists, 3,630, came from the United Kingdom. There were 1,102 visitors from Australia, and 653 from Canada. Total number of international tourists visited Nepal in 2023 is 6,01,360.

The total number of international tourists visited Nepal in each month of 2023 are listed as below:

A total of 67,153 international tourists visited Nepal in August, 2023. Among them, 26,665 from India, 5,027 from China, 4,629 from United States, 3,858 from Sri Lanka ,  3,190 from Bangladesh, 2,711 from the UK, 1,588 from Spain, 1520 from Japan, 1,496 from Italy,  1,347 from Australia and so on.

In the last seven months, a total of 534,207 tourists arrived.

In the last seven months in Nepal, 534,207 tourists arrived. Among them, 57,726 tourists arrived in July 2023. This is the total number of tourists who visited Nepal from January to July. It indicates a gradual recovery in tourist arrivals from the impact of COVID-19.

According to the data from the director of the tourism board, in July 2019, there were 58,811 tourists who visited Nepal. The years following that were affected by the negative impact of COVID-19.

As per tourism entrepreneurs, Chinese tourists, along with sightseeing, are also interested in adventure and outdoor activities. Hence, they consider Nepal as an “Alps-like” destination.

According to data released by the Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 57,726 tourists came to Nepal in July 2023. Out of that only 21 thousand 357 Indians have come. In second place are Chinese citizens. Their number is 5 thousand 593 people. According to the board, the number of American tourists is 5,561.

Among other Asian countries, 1,375 tourists came from South Korea after China. Most of the European countries, 3,630 British tourists have come to Nepal. According to the data, 1 thousand 102 Tourists came to Nepal from Australia and 653 people came from Canada.

As per tourism entrepreneurs, Chinese tourists, along with sightseeing, are also interested in adventure and outdoor activities. Hence, they consider Nepal as an “Alps-like” destination.

Last month, the first commercial chartered flight arrived at Pokhara International Airport from Chengdu, China. However, regular flights to Pokhara have not been established yet. Currently, Kathmandu is connected to more Chinese cities than Indian cities through air travel. This has been seen as a positive message for increasing the number of Chinese tourists.