KATHMANDU ~ Tourist arrivals in Nepal have shot up 32 percent this year, a sign that the Himalayan nation’s crucial tourism sector is recovering after Maoist insurgents ended a decade-long war, officials said.

“Nepal’s tourism is reviving rapidly and we are seeing good signs,” Sarad Pradhan, an official at the Nepal Tourism Board, said.

The Tourism Board said total arrivals in the last nine months have gone up by 32.3 percent over the same period last year – when overall arrivals slumped to 283,000.