August 5: The arrival of Chinese tourists, which had come to a standstill after the outbreak of coronavirus, has been encouraging in recent months. The arrival of Chinese tourists increased by 250 percent in July compared to June.

According to the Department of Immigration, a total of 451 Chinese tourists arrived in Nepal in June, which increased to 1, 593 in July.

Before the start of the pandemic, altogether 10, 808 Chinese tourists had arrived in Nepal in July 2019.

The arrival of Chinese tourists has increased after China eased the restrictions imposed to curb the  viral outbreak.  However, China is still enforcing lockdown in some of its cities. According to media reports, lockdown is still in place in China’s southern city of Sanya and Wuhan,  the origin of coronavirus. But the lockdown is not as strict as it was before as most of the Chinese citizens have been vaccinated against the virus.

Chinese and Indian tourists form the backbone of Nepal’s tourism industry. The two countries are also the most populous countries in the world. China’s population is more than one billion and India’s population is a little less. Indian tourists do not require any visa to visit Nepal. Hundreds of thousands of tourists from the two countries travel worldwide every year. Nepal’s tourism sector can benefit a lot if it can tap in the potential of Indian and Chinese tourists.