December 3: The government is likely to achieve its goal of welcoming one million tourists into the country in the current fiscal year.

The government had announced in the budget statement for the current financial year (FY) 2080/81 that it would bring one million tourists in 2023. With the arrival of 918,308 tourists in eleven months of 2023, it seems that the goal of the government will be achieved. In 2022, altogether 614,148 tourists had visited Nepal after the end of Covid-19 pandemic.

The arrival of tourists is satisfactory this year as more than 100,000 tourists arrived in Nepal in the last two months.

Deepak Raj Joshi, former executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board, says that the government has set a low target of welcoming tourists after improving and developing capacities in air infrastructure, hotel services and other aspects than before.

It may be noted that the government had set a target to welcome two million tourists in Nepal in 2020 but the outbreak of the global pandemic dented the efforts.

"In 2019, the year before the pandemic, 1.2 million tourists visited Nepal. If we had tried a little bit more, we could have brought 1.5 million tourists this year,” Joshi said.

Stakeholders say that the government has not worked hard to achieve the goals and has not made proper evaluation of the country's capacity and the current situation.

The number of tourists has increased compared to last year as the coronavirus pandemic has subsided and the capacity of Nepal’s airports has increased.

According to Joshi, Nepal can attract 1.2 million tourists in 2024 if the current situation prevails.

Most tourists visiting Nepal this year were from India. A total of 24,443 tourists came from India in November alone followed 11,461 tourists from America, 7,601 from China and 6,138 from Britain.