Nepal’s tourists are back

After some years of internal turmoil, including the assassination of many members of the Royal Family and a Maoist uprising, the Himalayan country that spreads like a crooked smile from the eastern and western tips of India (with Bhutan snuggling in there too) is back en vogue with tourists.

The Nepal Tourism Board reports that 2007 was a very good year for the country, whose tourist numbers are climbing back to what they once were before the decade of instability and uncertainty. Air arrivals in 2007 rose 27 percent from 2006 to reach 360,000 inbound passengers, making it the highest number since the turn of the millennium.

“We had planned to come a couple of years ago, but the political unrest made it impossible. But when things settled down, we rebooked our tickets and came over,” said one American tourist, who also said they had no cause to fear for their safety at all.