This is supposed to be the monsoon lean season, but tourist arrivals are up compared to last year. Amidst signs of further political instability, there are some signs of revival in the battered tourism industry. There has been a 30 percent spurt in tourist arrivals by air in July compared to the same month last year. Close to 18,000 visited the country last month. Indian nationals, that normally comprise one-third of the total arrivals, were up by 41 percent while visitors from other countries increased by 22 percent, including those from prime markets like the US, Japan, France, Australia and Holland. Arrivals from Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Israel and Sweden too have gone up. The only decline was registered from Britain and Germany, that fell to six and 11 percent respectively. "The growth puts Nepal back on the recovery track," says Nepal Tourism Board's Marketing Manager Aditya Baral. The tourism nosedive started after the hijacking of IC814 in 1999 (a year in which Nepal saw a record 500,000 tourists) and has never recovered.