Kathmandu. The Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Hit Bahadur Tamang welcomed the representatives of China Southern Airlines at Tribhuvan International Airport today.
On Saturday, Minister Tamang and the Nepalese representative of China Southern Airlines welcomed the cabin crew of the official additional flight from Guangzhou to Kathmandu at Tribhuvan International Airport.
Minister Tamang expressed his belief that in the coming days, the commercial flight of China Southern Airlines will be more reliable and safe, and will further increase the efficiency and help in tourism promotion.
Minister Tamang and the Nepalese representative of China Southern Airlines welcomed the cabin crew of the official additional flight from Guangzhou to Kathmandu at the airport. Minister Tamang expressed his belief that in the coming days, China Southern Airlines’ commercial flights will be more reliable and safer, and will further help in tourism promotion by increasing efficiency.
China’s China Southern Airlines has increased its flights in Nepal. Southern Airlines, which is currently operating one flight from Guangzhou to Kathmandu every day, has started two flights a day from today.
According to airport spokesperson Subas Jha, the plane of China Southern Airlines landed at Kathmandu airport in the afternoon and flew to Guangzhou with passengers. The airline was operating two daily flights in Nepal before the covid-19 epidemic, but due to the epidemic, it cut one flight. The curtailed flight has resumed from today. The plane that will land from Guangzhou to Kathmandu at 2 pm will take off for Guangzhou at 3 pm. Similarly, the airport office said that the flight schedule is to arrive in Kathmandu at 11:00 PM and return to Guangzhou at 12:00 PM. Along with this, four Chinese airlines have been flying to Kathmandu. Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Intern Airlines and Sichuan Airlines fly to Nepal. With the increase in flights from China, it is believed that the arrival of Chinese tourists will increase.
Even though Nepal Air Service Corporation (Nepal Airlines) had prepared the Guangzhou flight before the Corona epidemic, it was stopped due to the Corona epidemic.
China is the second largest destination for Nepal’s tourism market after India. Also, China has been at the top of the world’s outbound tourism. Experts say that if only one percent of the total outbound tourists from China can be brought to Nepal, it will be enough.
To attract more and more Chinese tourists from China to Nepal, various tourism trade fairs have been organized. Diplomatic visits and cultural visits between the two countries at various times are strengthening the relationship through tourism and culture.
According to the data of Nepal Tourism Board, 1 million 14 thousand 802 foreign tourists visited Nepal in 2023. The number of Chinese tourists was 60 thousand 87. Lately, Nepal has announced that it will not charge visa fee for Chinese tourists. According to the Chinese Embassy, Nepalese will not be charged visa fee for general visa from last May 19th. Since 2016, Nepal has been providing free visa to Chinese citizens.
In 2024, the arrival of Chinese tourists is increasing. According to the board, 111,376 foreign tourists visited Nepal last April, while only 9,750 tourists from China came to Nepal. 12 thousand 93 Chinese tourists visited Nepal in March, 9 thousand 180 in February and 1 thousand 436 in January. In 2019, before the corona epidemic, 169,543 Chinese tourists came to Nepal.