The total visitor arrival figures in July 2007 grew by 25 percent culminating the figure to 26078, according to the data released by TIA, Office. The European market as a whole has shown a healthy growth of 45 percent with encouraging figures from major tourist generating individual countries. The UK market with the largest share of the total European arrivals has increased by 30.8 percent. Germany (33.4%), France (65.7%), Spain (65.8%), Netherlands (21.6%) and Belgium (75.1%) also registered very healthy growth this month compared to the corresponding month of last year. The arrivals from the Australian and American markets are also very encouraging with 53.9 % and 82.9 % growth respectively. Arrivals from Austria and Norway are down by 34.2% and 21.2 percent respectively.

Some regional and emerging markets like Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand are pro-actively depicting a upward growth trend instilling a sense of hope amongst the travel trade. Korean and Chinese markets grew by staggering 180.4% and 90% establishing their prominence with 4% and 3.8% respectively in total arrivals. It is very worth noting that Korea and China are in the same range of contributing more than 3 percent in the total arrivals till July. Only UK, USA, France, Germany, Japan, Korea and China are such countries, excluding India in the count.The arrival figures from some neighboring countries have not gained the momentum and hence not encouraging as yet. Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan arrivals are down by 4.4%, 7.6% and 8.8% respectively. The Bangladesh market nevertheless grew by 94.8%.

The total arrivals till July increased by 35.6 % with total 193211 numbers of tourists till the month of July. The situation manifests that not a single country records negative growth in its total arrivals till July. Which means, the prospect and the trend of tourist arriving is on the rise for the days to come. NTB presumes we all should collectively engross more for fetching more number of tourists capitalizing the peace and stability in line with the promotional efforts of all

Nepal's inbound tourism to benefit from capacity boost, customers will enjoy direct flights between Kathmandu and Singapore. Subject to government approval, SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, hopes to introduce a three-times weekly service between Kathmandu and Singapore from end October 2007.

" Flights will leave Singapore every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, at 0910 hours and will arrive in Kathmandu at 1205 hours (local time). Flights out of Nepal's capital will depart at 1305 hours, arriving in Singapore at 2015 hours (local time).

" There are presently no direct air services between both countries. The inbound flights will cater to leisure traffic out of Singapore and facilitate easy connections for customers from Australia, New Zealand Japan and Europe, all of which are important source markets for inbound tourism to Nepal." For customers from Kathmandu, the new service will offer direct flights to Singapore and the convenience of onward connections to more than 90 international cities in the joint Singapore Airlines-SilkAir network.

"We're thrilled by the opportunity to fly to Kathmandu and are looking forward to the conclusion of the agreements between the aviation authorities," said David Lim, SilkAir's Vice President Commercial. " Nepal's unparalleled natural beauty and diverse attractions make it more than just a trekking destination and we're eager make it easier for more visitors to enjoy its splendour."Flights will be operated on SilkAir's Airbus A320 family aircraft. SilkAir extends the Singapore Airline Group's footprint in Asia by offering connections from Singapore to 28 other exotic destinations in the region. It was voted "Best Regional Airline" for the seventh time by members of Asia Pacific's Travel Trade in the annual TTG Travel Awards.

SilkAir operates a fleet of 14 Airbus A-320 family aircraft; with 12 more of the same type on firm order and options for a further nine.