Published on : Friday, January 11, 2019
The Himalayan nation saw the number of tourists go up nearly by 25 per cent as it welcomed a record high of 1,173,072 visitors in 2018.
Rabindra Adhikari, Nepal’s tourism minister, called the new tourist numbers as “remarkable”.
Last year also saw record 807 climbers reach the summit of Mount Everest, including 563 summits from Nepal.
For Nepal, tourism is a major revenue earner and a huge source for its impoverished economy.
Fears for the industry surfaced after a devastating earthquake in 2015 that killed nearly 9,000 people and destroyed many of the country’s heritage sites.
Although the earthquake gave a devastating blow to the economy, the sector has since gradually recovered.
Tourism contributed 7.8 per cent to Nepal’s GDP in 2017, creating over a million jobs, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.