Nepal

Visitor numbers to the Himalayan nation grew strongly through the 1990s and 2000s — leaping from 385,000 in 2004 to 790,000 in 2014. But then came the April 2015 earthquake, killing almost 9,000 people, injuring 22,000 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. After the rescue operations were completed, tourists found themselves in a quandary, anxious not to put added strain on resources, or seem insensitive, but also aware of the importance of tourism to the economy. Many decided to stay away: overall arrivals fell 32 per cent in 2015; the number of people visiting for trekking and mountaineering slumped 91 per cent.

“This year still felt too early to go back for many but 2017 will be the year to visit,” says Jarrod Kyte of Steppes Travel. Tim Greening of KE Adventure Travel agrees and reports that forward bookings are up 94 per cent compared with the same point last year. “The earthquake will never be forgotten, but next year tourism will be back to what it was in 2014, at least in the Annapurna and Everest regions,” he says.