Nepal witnesses significant increase of Chinese tourists

Nepal has witnessed a significant increase of Chinese tourists in the first 11 month of 2011.Their number grew by 74.4 percent as compared to the corresponding period of previous year, according to Tuesdsay\'s The Rising Nepal daily. With this increment, the northern neighbor became a country with the highest percentage of growth of tourists to Nepal as it is celebrating the Nepal Tourism Year 2011.From January to November 2011, the number of Chinese tourists coming to Nepal via air has reached to 40,244 against 23,077 same period of last year. The total number of Chinese tourists coming Nepal via both land and air in 2010 were 46,360. The number is expected to be around 55,000 this year.China is followed by Israel, India, Czech Republic and Sweden with increment by 57 percent, 40 percent, 37 percent and 34 percent respectively. It is estimated that around 57 million Chinese people would visit aboard during the year 2011, the number as estimated was 56 million for 2010. Talking to The Rising Nepal, Aditya Baral, spokesperson at the Nepal Tourism Board said that the increment in tourists arrivals from China could be higher in coming years.\"If we focus on promotional activities in China together with the improvements of air and land accessibility, the increment could be expected higher in next years,\" he said. According to Baral, most of the Chinese tourists come here to see the cultural and natural heritages and stay lesser days in comparison to the European and American tourists.However, in recent years, new generation of Chinese tourists have also shown interest in soft adventure tourism too, he said.Baral stressed on the need to establish the direct flights of National flag carrier to China for bringing more tourists from the highly potential tourist generating market.\"We need to promote Nepal in China and India for sustainable tourism of the country,\" he added.