It was expected, but here are the painful figures. Tourist arrivals in November were down 43 percent compared with the same period last year, says the Nepal Tourism Board. That takes the overall January to November drop in tourist arrivals to 17 percent. And it was not only Indians who avoided Nepal last month, even tourists from overseas did not come. The arrival of third country tourists was down 43 percent and that of Indians 42 percent compared with November 2000 arrivals. The Americans were conspicuously fewer?US tourist numbers were down 62 percent, and the Japanese also stayed away (48 percent fewer came). The Tourism Board is predicting an overall 15-20 percent drop in arrivals by the end of the year.