The overall tourists arrival by air in Nepal declined by 3.9 percent in 2005, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of Nepal said Tuesday.

A statement issued by the ministry said that a total of 277,129 tourists visited Nepal in 2005 as compared to 288,356 the previous year.

The ministry's data showed that there was a sharp decline in the arrivals in the first five-month of 2005 as compared to 2004. However, there was a gradual recovery in the following months.

In December, tourist arrival increased by 18.5 percent as compared to the corresponding period in 2004.

In a separate statement issued on Monday, Nepal Tourism Board ( NTB) said that the growing peace, safety and stability in Nepal has contributed significantly for the growth in arrivals by air in the last seven months.

Tourist arrivals were down by 32 percent and 18 percent in the first and second quarters of 2005 respectively.

Arrivals started recovering from June onwards as the third quarter went up by 24 percent. The last quarter of the year also increased by 16 percent, NTB said.

Increased air connectivity of Cosmic Air and Air Nepal International to various sectors as well as joint promotions of NTB along with Royal Nepal Airlines, Cosmic Air and Pashupati Area Development Trust helped the arrivals to grow, NTB said.

The news of ceasefire of the anti-government guerrillas and growing destination image due to 150 groups of foreign reporters' trips coverage organized by the NTB along with industry partners also had a significant impact, NTB added.

Source: Xinhua