The tourism industry has recorded a robust growth of tourists visiting the country in November, as the numbers climbed up by 45 percent during the month against the corresponding period last year. The latest increase has come as an encouraging boost to the industry at a time when it has suffered with a low- turnout from some time now as a result of ongoing political uncertainty and domestic violence.

According to official statistics of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), a total of 29,011 tourists came to Nepal by air during the period, with a raise from 20,026 tourist arrivals during same period last year. The NTB has attributed the economic growth in the tourist generating markets to the positive impact of cease-fire followed by growing consumers' confidence on Nepal's image as safe destination in the international markets.

"Besides, various promotional programs carried out by the NTB in association with airlines and private sector in the regional level have also helped to attract more visitors," claimed the NTB. Of the total increment, the number of visitors from the third countries surged by 51 percent while the number of Indian tourists soared by 26 percent.

During the month of review, a total of 22,812 tourists from the overseas countries 6,199 Indian tourists visited Nepal. The figure in the corresponding period last year was as many as 15,087 from the third countries and 4,939 from India. In terms of country-wise tourist arrivals, the number of tourists from the United States went up by 30 percent, the United Kingdom by 49 percent, Germany by 12 percent, France by 67 percent, Japan by 47 percent, Australia by 24 percent and China by 73 percent during the period.

The NTB has further stated that successful celebration of Mt. Everest Golden Jubilee with huge international media coverage and government incentives of free visa scheme for SAARC and Chinese nationals, among others, have contributed to this tremendous growth in visitor arrivals.

Moreover, recovery signs were also received from the small markets like Belgium and Austria during the period. The number of tourists from these countries grew by 25 percent and 37 percent respectively. However, the arrival of Belgian and Austrian tourists was on a decline in the past months.

Likewise, the tourist arrivals from Israel and Italy dropped by 12 percent and three percent respectively in November as compared to the same month last year. According to the statistics, the total number of tourists visiting the country during the first 11 months of the current year rose by 21 percent as compared to the corresponding period of the last year.

OTHER NEWS

• Doctors Without Borders facing boundaries in Nepal: The Nobel Peace Prize-winning international humanitarian organization, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, is facing government-imposed boundaries in Nepal. "We are not given permission to go to the remote villages. They are not accepting us as an emergency aid organization and treating us as an INGO, and we are deprived of liberties to work effectively for the welfare of the poor people in Nepal," said Robert Parker, MSF Country Director to Nepal. The globally acclaimed aid organization has been asked by the government to register itself with the Social Welfare Council (SWC). It has been denied visas, and it is not permitted to visit remote areas.
  
  
• Street children indulge in glue-sniffing: Glue-sniffing is fast becoming a trend among the street children in the country with more than 60 per cent of them sniffing it daily, says a report by Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN). Glue-sniffing is the use of aromatic substances as a soft drug. Its short-term effects are known to be hallucinations and pain relief, and it can have disastrous effect in the liver and central nervous system of the user in the long term.
  
  
• 10 Rhinos from Chitwan Park to be translocated: Altogether ten rhinos of the Royal Chitwan National Park will be translocated to Royal National Park Shuklaphanta, Kanchanpur. The translocation of the rhinos is to be done with the joint technical co-operation of park and the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC), according to Chief Conservation Officer, Shivraj Bhatta. The counting of the rhinos will also be done next month. The counting of rhinos used to be done in every five years and now the counting will be made in three years. The translocation of rhinos was started since 2042 BS due to the increasing number of rhinos population in Chitwan National Park. A total of 96 rhinos were translocated to Bardia National Park and four in Royal Shuklaphanta. There were a total of 554 rhinos in Chitwan National Park during the counting of rhinos in 2000. Though 46 rhinos were killed last year, there are still more than 500 rhinos in the park, according to the park.
  
  
• Tourism slump hits bank loan recovery: As a result of dwindling tourism industry in Pokhara, the main tourism hub of the Western region, loans disbursement of the local commercial banks have drastically declined over a couple of years. The low disbursement of loans has hit the financial institutions very badly. They have adopted a policy for the last three years to heavily control their loan disbursement to the tourism industry after it began facing financial crisis due to the violent activities of the Maoists. As a result, their lending to the tourism sector has come to an almost standstill for the last two years. However, deposit mobilization of the banks has doubled during the period.
  
  
• Legal frameworks vital to monitor wildlife farming: Conservationists have urged the government to formulate legal frameworks before putting wildlife farming policy. The government decided to introduce the first-ever Wildlife Farming, Reproduction and Research Policy on August 12 with the objectives of 'promoting sustainable conservation and use of wildlife'. "The intent of the policy seems to be very encouraging and positive but there is no legal framework necessary to put the policy into implementation," said Dr. Ravi Sharma Aryal, an expert of anti-wildlife trade law. "The policy will abet wildlife trade, which is reportedly very high in the country, in the absence of such legal frameworks needed to monitor wildlife farming", Dr. Aryal said speaking at a discussion program on the policy, organized by Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists here recently.