Kathmandu, Mar 3 (PTI) Nepal received over 19,000 foreign tourists in February, including the highest from neighbouring India, marking a 116.1 per cent increase in the arrival of visitors as compared to the corresponding period last year due to the fall in COVID-19 cases across the Himalayan nation, the tourism department said on Wednesday.

In February 2022, Nepal received a total of 19,766 foreign tourists as compared to 9,146 tourists in the corresponding period last year, an increase by 116.1 percent, according to the data provided by Nepal Tourism Board (NTB).

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Among the tourists who arrived in the country in February, the number from Asia was the highest with 7,262 visitors followed by those from European countries, .

From neighbouring India, as many as 5,998 tourists visited Nepal- the highest in the chart. Tourists from the US were second in the list with 3,195 Americans entering Nepal in February.

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Similarly, 2,217 international tourists were from the United Kingdom, 1,052 from Australia, 888 from Bangladesh, 642 from Germany, 529 from France, and 419 from Canada.

Meanwhile, the number of tourists from China stood at 205.

China is one of the largest tourist generating markets for Nepal. However, the number has remained significantly low since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, according to the NTB.

Nepal received 16,975 tourists in January, 2022, while total tourist arrival in the 2021 was 100,000.

As Nepal is gradually recovering from the pandemic, the number of foreign visitors coming to Nepal has increased recently.

The Ministry of Health and Population confirmed 105 new cases of COVID–19 in the past 24 hours. The country's infection tally has reached 1,116,761 with 11,944 deaths as of Thursday afternoon.

There are 7,517 active COVID–19 cases across the country. In the past 24 hours, 320 people have recovered, while three people have died of the disease.

Of the total cases so far, 957,808 people have recovered.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)