British tour operators are running trips to Nepal despite the continuing clashes between the army and Maoist rebels who stepped up their offensive in late November.

Peter Liney, boss of Travelbag, which currently has a group of 18 travellers in Nepal, says that he takes his lead from the Foreign Office, which advises careful monitoring of the situation but says that the Maoists are not targeting tourists. Liney says that operators on the ground support this view: 'If someone wants to go, our belief is that they should go ahead, given they're aware of what they're going into.'

Chris Short, director of Far Frontiers, also insisted that the situation is not putting people off travelling. 'We've not experienced any decline in bookings,' he said. 'We are actively promoting Nepal and our clients are looking for reassurance.'

Far Frontiers travellers returning from December trips report that while some of the trekking routes were quieter than usual, they experienced no problems.

In its latest statement, issued a month after the Nepalese government declared a state of emergency, the Foreign Office says that travellers should trek or raft only on established routes with reputable agen cies. It notes that several curfews, including an unofficial one of 9pm in Katmandu, are in place in towns.

The Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) spokesman Tek Bahadur Dangi is upbeat, insisting that if anything the state of emergency has improved law and order. 'It is very, very safe. Not a single [tourist] casualty,' he said.

· Further information at Nepal Tourist Board and The Foreign Office.