During the month of September a total of 32,502 tourists visited Nepal by air, according to Nepal Tourism Board. This is an increase of just 0.5 % over the same period last year. With this the tourist arrival for the first nine months in the year 2008 by air has reached 257,181, which is a 2 % increase over last year.

The tourist arrival from Europe has decreased by 9 % as only 10775 Europeans visited Nepal in throughout September as against 11,819 tourists last year. The major tourist generating countries including Germany, UK and Spain has observed 20 %, 13 % and 9 % reduction. However, Israeli, French, Australian and Norwegian tourists have recorded a marked increase.

The number of Indian tourists visiting Nepal in September stood at 7,752 which is a 14 % increment over last year figure. The inbound tourists from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, Singapore and Malaysia has also recorded a healthy growth this month.