KATHMANDU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- More than 1.6 million Nepalis traveled abroad in 2023 for employment, tourism, study and other purposes, new government figures show.

As many as 808,415 Nepalis went abroad for employment, while 204,518 and 108,542 were for tourism/pilgrimage and study, respectively, according to the Department of Immigration.

Among the top destinations were the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, Qatar, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

More and more Nepalis have been opting to go abroad as tourists in recent years, according to travel agencies.

Among them, Holidays to Nepal has announced several travel packages for Nepalis to countries including India, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives, the UAE, Sri Lanka and European countries.

"The trend of Nepalis going abroad for tourism purpose has been growing," Kiran Neupane, marketing officer for Holidays to Nepal, told Xinhua.

"The majority of Nepalis visit Thailand because of cheaper travel packages," he said.

Meanwhile, Nepal welcomed 1,014,876 foreign tourists in 2023, the first time the South Asian country has received more than 1 million foreigners in a single year since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in late 2019, according to the Nepal Tourism Board. Enditem

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