Thursday, July 27 2006 11:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: Nothing can beat a trek in the Himalayas, say Nepalese tour promoters who are expecting a rise in tourist inflow following the return of peace in the kingdom.

"What you need is robust health, strong legs and willingness to walk up and down hills and valleys," said Prakash Neupane, a trekking guide.

But Nepal, gripped by 10-year insurgency, saw only 277,129 tourists in 2005 - at least 200,000 less than the inflow in 1999 and 2000. And only about 83,000 of them were revenue-generating tourists from Europe and the Americas.

Nepal earned about $77 million in foreign exchange from tourism during the last fiscal year that ended July 16.

However, tourist entrepreneurs in Nepal are now elated that peace has returned to the land ravaged by the bloody Maoist insurgency that killed more than 13,000 people and displaced over 300,000, frightening Western tourists who once flocked to the Nepal Himalayas.

Nepal boasts a climate from torrid in the low-lying plains of the south to the temperate north and has always beckoned visitors, says a travel agent.

"With the peace process in place, we are now preparing to welcome tourists like never before," said Bhola Thapa, owner of President Travels and Tours.

"Nepal and the trek in the Himalayas have always been safe for tourists even during the height of the Maoist insurgency," said Diwaker Rana, an executive in the Nepal Tourism Board, the country's apex tourism body.

"Nepal has been universally acknowledged as one of the best trekking destinations in the world. And now with peace back on track, we expect tourists to trek to the Himalayas again in big numbers," Rana said.

Tourism is big business in Nepal and hundreds of budget to expensive lodges along the trekking routes in the Annapurna, Langtang and Everest regions of the Nepal Himalayas had to close down because of a drop in the number of trekkers in the wake of the Maoist insurgency.

But the mood is so upbeat that with the start of the tourist season in September, things will begin to look up.

Maoist leader Prachanda told a meeting of travel entrepreneurs late last week, "We never targeted tourists even during strikes and war. Now also, we are equally committed to protecting the tourists."

Bhola Thapa said, "Tour operators and tourists in other countries are presently taking a wait-and-see attitude. I think the tourist upturn will really begin from next year during the spring season."

"Why choose Nepal when there are so many other places to go to?" he said. "The answer is simple," Prakash Pradhan, an executive of Asian Trekking, told sources.

"This country has everything to offer to the tourist. Rafting, national parks, birds, wildlife.But the most exotic are the treks to the Himalayas," he said.

It is estimated that more than 60 percent of tourists from Western countries and Japan go on treks in the Himalayas.

Among the most popular are the ones to the Everest region. The trek in the Everest region takes the tourist up to the Base Camp at a height of 5,300 metres or to the Kalapathar at a height of 5,545 metres.

The next in popularity is the Annapurna region in west-central Nepal, followed by Langtang treks in central Nepal, according to Pradhan.

The Everest trek is the safest, Pradhan said. There were stray cases of Maoists trying to extort money from trekkers in the Annapurna region.

"But in general the Maoists have been very helpful to trekkers," said Pradhan, adding that there were instances of tourists being helped by the Maoists in the Dolpo region in western Nepal.

In an effort to lure trekkers, the government has waived trekking permits and fees to the Everest, Annapurna and Langtang regions. However, national park fees are levied there, according to Pradhan.

He also said that trekking permits and hefty fees were levied by the government on treks to the Upper Mustang, also known as the Forgotten Kingdom that lies on the other side of the Himalayas, and the Dolpo region in far west Nepal.