Tourist arrivals inch closer to pre-pandemic level

Tourist arrivals to Nepal via air surpassed the one-million mark for the second consecutive year in 2024 but remained below pre-covid levels.

According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), 1,055,533 tourists visited Nepal in the first 11 months of 2024, compared to 1,014,882 in 2023. Since Nepal welcomed 91,491 foreign tourists till Dec 30, arrivals in the last month of 2024 are estimated to reach around 95,000, marking a year-on-year growth of over 13 percent.

Nepal first recorded over 1m foreign air arrivals in 2018, with 1,173,072 visitors, and the number rose slightly to 1,197,191 in 2019—the highest ever. However, the Covid-19 pandemic caused a drastic decline, with arrivals plummeting to 230,085 in 2020 and further to 150,962 in 2021, the lowest since 1977 when 129,329 tourists visited the country.

Tourism began to recover as the effects of the pandemic waned, with arrivals rebounding to 614,869 in 2022 and crossing the 1m mark again in 2023.

In 2024, Nepal received the highest number of tourists in March with 128,167 arrivals. October came second with 124,393 foreign tourists, followed by November (114,501) and April (111,376).

Government officials and tourism stakeholders were expecting foreign tourist numbers to return to pre-covid figures in 2024. However, tourist footfalls fell short of the target yet again. Officials of the Nepal Tourism Board and private sector entrepreneurs say one factor that affected tourist numbers over the last two months of 2024 was the closure of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) during nighttime hours. The closure of the airport in the peak tourist season disrupted international flights and impacted tourist arrivals, they added.

A closer look at arrival figures of 2024 reveals the impact of the airport closure. Between January and October, tourist arrivals increased 16 percent compared to the same period in 2023. However, growth slowed to just two percent in November and December compared to the same months of 2023.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal implemented nighttime closures of TIA starting
Nov 7. 

Meanwhile, international tourism is on track for full recovery by the end of the year with spending growing faster than arrivals. According to the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), international arrivals reached 98 percent of 2019 levels in January-September 2024. An estimated 1.1bn international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) were recorded in the January-September period of 2024, about 11 percent more than in the same period of 2023.

Arrivals in the Middle East and Europe have exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 19 percent and one percent, respectively, while Africa has reached the pre-covid levels. According to the UNWTO, the Americas recorded 97 percent of 2019 levels and Asia and the Pacific 85 percent in the January-September period.