Nepal's visitors by air in July 2004 showed an increase of only one percent compared to the same period last year. This week's NTB figures show 18 percent more non-Indian visitors than last year, but this was offset by a 16 percent decline in Indian arrivals. This could be because of irregular Royal Nepal Airlines flights to Indian destinations. The drop comes despite the new daily Jet Airways flights from Delhi. Another reason could be aggressive promotion of the southeast Asian markets for Indian upper middle class, travel trade sources say. Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have been selling Indians cheap holiday and shopping packages.

European arrivals by air have shot up, with much of the growth among British (+17 percent), French (+21 percent), Spanish (+97 percent), Italian (+76 percent) and Dutch (+61 percent) tourists. Canadians are also up by 30 percent from last year. Japan showed only six percent growth, while Chinese travelers went up by 57 percent. The Indian share of passenger volume dropped to 40 percent of the total in July. Air travel was still down 24 percent from the highs recorded in July 1999.