REGION
South Indians for Nepal, tourists for Southasia
The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), eager to benefit from the thus-far little-tapped market of South India, recently mobilised a promotional campaign targeting tour operators and the press in Madras. Aimed at significantly increasing the number of Indian tourists in Nepal, the campaign, called Naturally Nepal – once is not enough, is focused in particular on "religiously-inclined" potential travelers from South India. In 2006, Indian tourists accounted for 33 percent of Nepal's arrivals. Actually, there are many more who do not get counted, as they come by land over the unregulated Nepal-India border.
Separately, a recent report by the United Nation's World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) found that Southasia saw a 10 percent increase in tourist arrivals in 2006. Most of this increase is credited to the Subcontinent's largest country – India experienced a growth in arrivals of around 13 percent, with 4.43 million tourists arriving through the year. The UNWTO noted that 2006 was a record of sorts for tourism the world over, with the number of tourist travels increasing by 4.5 percent to 842 million globally.