Overall tourist arrivals by air declined by 12.7 percent in the first nine months of this year compared to the corresponding period in 1999. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, the number of tourists flying into the country till the end of September was 250,957, while it was 287,768 last year. The decrease came about largely due to Indian tourists who stayed away in large numbers in the aftermath of the December 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu. But present trends are encouraging. After slumping by 54 percent in January, Indian tourist arrivals increased by almost by almost 38 percentage points in June, when Indian Airlines began flying to Nepal again. The largest number of Indians (14,902) came in June, though this figure was much higher in June 1999. Meanwhile, there has been a steady improvement in the number of tourists from countries other than India, though the figures for September are still about seven percent less than the numbers last year.