Tourist arrivals up 8.8% in February

KATHMANDU: International tourist arrivals to Nepal increased by 8.8% to 105,441 in February.

According to Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), it is also 2.9% higher than the pre-pandemic level of February 2019, translating into a 102.9% recovery.

Nepal welcomed 96,880 foreign tourists in February last year.

Total foreign tourist arrivals stood at 92,573 in January. With this, total tourist arrivals in the first two months of 2026 have reached 198,014 — a notable increase compared to 176,871 visitors recorded during the same period in 2025.

India remained the largest source market in February with 22,745 visitors, accounting for 21.6 percent of total arrivals. China and the US were next with total arrivals of 10,816 (10.3%) and 9,710 (9.2%), respectively.

Sri Lanka ranked fourth with 7,515 arrivals (7.1%), and Myanmar was fifth with 6,035 visitors (5.7%).

Region-wise, South Asia contributed the largest share at 33.5%. Visitors from Other Asian countries accounted for 28.3%, followed by Europe at 16.6% and the Americas at 11.2%.

Oceania made up 1.6% of total arrivals, while the Middle East contributed 0.9%, and Africa accounted for 0.3%. The remaining 7.5% came from other regions.

Nepal welcomed 1,158,459 foreign tourists in 2025, a marginal 1% increase from 2024 (1,147,548). It was a 97% recovery compared to 2019 levels.