KATHMANDU, April 17: The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Department of Tourism has so far issued expedition permits to 71 groups for climbing various mountains, including Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) in the spring season.
The Department gave the permits to 626 climbers of 71 mountaineering expedition teams as of Friday. Of them, a total 338 mountaineers, including 84 females and 266 males of 36 teams have got the permit for climbing Mt Everest, Department's Mountaineering Section officer Bhisma Raj Bhattarai said.
Similarly, 11 expedition teams have got permission for climbing Mt Lhotse and four teams each for climbing Mt Annapurna and Mt Dhawalagiri respectively.
109 expedition teams granted climbing permits for spring season
Likewise, three groups have got permission to climb Mt Nuptse and one team each for ascending Mt Ama Dablam and Mt Makalu in the spring season, the Department stated in a press release.
An increasing number of expedition teams taking permits for climbing various peaks in this spring climbing season amidst the Covid-19 pandemic are an encouraging development for mountaineering tourism.
The tourism entrepreneurs are enthused with this and they believe this attraction to mountaineering will contribute towards reviving the tourism sector which has been slackened by the pandemic.
Over Rs 450 million collected
Meanwhile, the Department has to date collected more than Rs 450 million in royalty from mountaineering permits issued for the spring climbing season. According to the Mountaineering Section of the Department, Rs 451 million 955 thousand 494 was collected in mountaineering royalty as of April 16.
The Department had started issuing expedition permits Since March 15.
