Foreign arrivals jump up in Nepal

Kathmandu: More than 800,000 foreign tourists visited Nepal in the first nine months of this year, up 21 per cent from the same period of last year, the latest figures showed.

Nepal received 835,629 foreign visitors by September this year, as against 692,372 in the previous year, according to figures unveiled by the Nepal Tourism Board.

In September alone, foreign arrivals stood at 96,305, marking an increase of 5.82 per cent over the same month of last year, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This is the highest number of tourists for September," said Mani Raj Lamichhane, director of the board.

He told Xinhua that Indians accounted for the majority of the foreign visitors, followed by Americans and Chinese.

Nepal received 1,197,191 foreigners in 2019 and it hoped to break the record this year.