The figures released by Immigration Office, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) reveal that the total visitor arrivals till September 2008 have reached to 2,57,181. The figures represent an increase of 2% in comparison to the same period last year. The arrival figures in the month of September, 2008 compared to the same month last year, have increased by 1% to 32,502.

India, the largest tourist generating market for Nepal showed remarkable growth of 14% in September. The entire South Asian region has gained overall positive growth of 13% with Bangladesh (3%) and Sri Lanka (8%), except for arrivals from Pakistan which have decreased by 8%.

Similarly, other Asian countries China, Singapore and Malaysia have maintained the upward trend with 8%, 29% and 35% of growth respectively in each market. Israel, France, Australia and Norway have also maintained the increasing trend in the arrival figures. Arrivals from the United States of America and Canada have also increased in September in comparison to the same month last year.

However, other major markets such as Japan, South Korea and Thailand witnessed negative growth in the arrival figures by 21%, 40% and 7% respectively. European arrivals also suffered a significant decline with UK (9%), Italy (35%), Germany (20%) and Spain (13%).

A total of 26,770 tourists departed from TIA in September 2008.