Nepal planned to lease Himalayan peaks to Private companies to boost tourism

Nepal announced on 11 March 2014 a plan to lease Himalayan peaks to private companies to ease traffic on Mount Everest and to boost tourism.

Recently, Nepal had introduced a raft of measures to boost tourism and raised the concerns of overcrowding on Mount Everest.

It is one of several new measures announced by Nepal Government which included lower mountaineering fees, designed to attract more climbers to the impoverished country. Tourism sector is one of the prime sectors in generating revenue for Nepal Government.

Nepal Government proposed to lease unclimbed peaks to the private sector, to promote these mountains as new tourism products. The proposal would hire out some of the 326 Himalayan peaks. The proposal would soon be tabled in Nepal cabinet.

As per the analysts, Private sector professionals have good networks worldwide and can bring more climbers and tourists to Nepal.

Besides, Nepal Government had also slashed mountaineering fees for a range of other peaks in order to boost tourism.  As per the new rule in a bid to clean up the roof of the world each climber who scaled Everest required to bring back eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of garbage.