Nepal sees slight decline in tourists in January, India remains its top source

India continued to be Nepal's top source of tourists in January even though there was a slight decline in the total number of tourists visiting the picturesque Himalayan nation.

A total of 79,686 tourists visited Nepal in January 2020 while the number was 81,272 in the same month last year, according to the Nepal Tourism Board.

However, the number of Indian tourists has slightly increased in this period, according to the official figures.

A total of 16,882 Indians visited Nepal by air route this January compared to 14,650 Indians who visited last January.

The number of tourists from, China, has decreased apparently due to the novel coronavirus infection in the neighbouring country.

Tourism entrepreneurs fear that the deadly virus infection might hit the industry hard as the death toll is escalating in China and it is spreading across the world.

The death toll in China's novel coronavirus outbreak reached 1,016 with 108 new fatalities reported mostly in the worst-affected Hubei province while the confirmed cases of infection have soared to 42,638, Chinese health officials said on Tuesday.

Outside China, there have been more than 350 infections reported in almost 30 places with two deaths, one in the Philippines and the other in Hong Kong.

Many global airlines have cancelled their flights to China and some countries have barred Chinese nationals from visiting their countries.