Record number of tourists visits Nepal in 2010

_A Monitor Report Kathmandu : A record number of tourists flew to Nepal last year, with most of the growth coming from neighbouring India and Chi-na. The Nepal Tourism Board said the arrival of 448,769 foreign visitors at the country's only international airport in 2010, 15 per cent more than in 2009, showed tourism had recovered from the impact of a 10-year civil war. The figure rises by about 50,000 including overland visitors but officials conceded it would be difficult to meet a government goal of attracting a million tourists in 2011. Nepal tourism board spokesman Sarad Pradhan said the target will be hampered by the lack of direct flights from European countries. Nepal government last year declared it would double the number of tourists coming to the Himalayan nation in 2011, dubbing it "Visit Nepal Year' but fearing the country continues to be dogged by political instability. In an editorial Monday, Republica, an English-language daily newspaper, said tourism could lift thousands of Nepalese out of poverty. The sector accounts for around seven per cent of Nepal's gross domestic product. But citing a shortage of hotel rooms and a lack of capacity at the "archaic" international airport in the capital Kathmandu are always a pull back. The number of Indian tourists travelling to Nepal more than doubled in 2010 to 111,512, while the number of Chinese visitors reached 37,576, a slight increase on 2009.