Outbound Nepali travellers spent almost Rs 80bn

Kathmandu, August 30

Nepali outbound travellers spent Rs 79.59 billion abroad in the last fiscal year against Rs 67 billion spent by foreign tourists in the country over the same period.

The travel expenses incurred by Nepalis in foreign countries had been increasing in the past few years along with the increasing outflow of Nepali travellers, migrant workers and students going abroad for studies. However, such expenses fell negligibly by 0.4 per cent in fiscal 2017-18 compared to Rs 79.92 billion spent by Nepali outbound travellers in 2016-17, as per the statistics of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

The travel expenses of Nepali outbound travellers in 2016-17 was an increment by 40.1 per cent compared to Rs 56.4 billion spent by Nepali outbound travellers in 2015-16.

Meanwhile, the spending of foreigners in Nepal increased by 14.6 per cent in the last fiscal year, according to the central bank’s statistics. Foreign travellers had spent Rs 67 billion in Nepal during fiscal 2017-18 against Rs 58.52 billion spent by foreign travellers in the country in 2016-17.

Spending made by foreign travellers in Nepal in 2015-16 was recorded at Rs 41.76 billion. It shows that expenses of foreign visitors in the country have been increasing in recent years.

Nara Bahadur Thapa, executive director of NRB, said that the rise in the size of middle-income group in the country and increase in the trend of travelling abroad among them have led to the surge in overall spending made by Nepali outbound travellers in recent years.

“Moreover, the outflow of Nepalis seeking jobs in foreign land and students pursuing foreign studies have also been increasing in recent years,” added Thapa.

A large number of outbound travellers are corporate employees and business owners travelling to destinations like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, among others, as per Thapa.

Similarly, tourism stakeholders have said that the increasing inflow of foreign tourists in Nepal in recent years is the chief reason behind the surge in foreign travellers’ spending in the country.

“Foreigners are increasingly visiting Nepal for vacations and other tourism purposes in recent years. This has led to an increase in spending of foreign travellers in Nepal,” said Deepak Raj Joshi, chief executive officer of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).

As per the statistics of NTB, 940,218 foreigners had visited Nepal in 2017 against 753,002 foreigners in 2016. As foreign tourist arrival is bound to increase in the coming years, tourist spending will continue to rise, as per Joshi.

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