Tourism arrivals continued to slide in July, dipping by about 29 percent, compared with July 2000, which wasn't a very good time either. It was an improvement over June, though, when arrivals fell by almost 57 percent. About 15,000 tourists came by air in July, down from the roughly 21,000 who were here last year. The Indian arrivals-Nepal's June through September tourists-were down by about 42 percent in July. But even that was an improvement over the June numbers, when arrivals took a 72 percent nosedive. About 4,400 Indian tourists flew in this July, down from last year's 7,600. The tourism statistics are compiled by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), based on immigration data of tourists coming by air. Indian arrivals this year have fallen by about 20 percent compared with last year's season, which was marred by the December 1999 hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu and the subsequent five-month suspension of flights by IA. The NTB is to extend its special promotional "Festival of Life." campaign to September. The programme was launched in May and suspended after the June 1 massacre.