Nepal reopens its peaks for mountaineers and trekkers hoping to revive its tourism sector

Housing eight of the world's highest mountains in the country, including the holy grail for climbers everywhere - Mount Everest, Nepal is a dream come true for all mountaineers. When the Corona pandemic first broke out, Nepal put a hold on all climbing and mountaineering activities on Mount Everest and other Himalayan peaks. This ban continued for months but now, the Nepal cabinet has decided to open up its peaks! This is good news for all adventure lovers out there, for now, they can scale their favourite mountain again!

Earlier this year, in March, Nepal had stopped all mountaineering activities on Mount Everest because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing the matter, Nepal's Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Yogesh Bhattarai said that the country had postponed all mountaineering expeditions in the country and also stopped issuing tourist visas. 

Almost 800,000 people, who work in the tourism sector, who were affected by this lockdown with no other way of income, can heave a sigh of relief. The Nepal cabinet decided to start mountaineering activities during the autumn season, which is the period between September to November.

This decision is expected and understandable as tourism and foreign visitors are one of the major sources of income for Nepal. Just last year, during the summer, 885 people climbed the Everest. Nepal earns millions of dollars every year via the tourism department because of mountaineering activities and trekking. So, the lockdown has caused Nepal millions of dollars in revenue.

Although the peaks are now open, there are still some restrictions, bearing in mind the raging pandemic. Regarding the opening, Rudra Singh Tamang, director-general of Nepal’s Department of Tourism said, “We are not opening the country for all visitors and only mountaineers and trekkers who have already had a permit taken prior permit will be allowed to come to Nepal. We are opening to a sector of visitors who we know we can handle and manage.”

As for the restrictions, now climbers need to get prior approval from the government and have health insurance that covers COVID-19 treatment while giving details of their itinerary.  All tourists are required to take the coronavirus test before leaving their country and stay in quarantine for a week in Kathmandu. Everyone who is a part of the mountaineering support team, from the guides and tourists to the cooks and porters, need to take a coronavirus test before starting the journey.

“We are trying to revive the tourism industry that was badly hit by the pandemic, but we are not taking any chances or any risks. We need to give a small ray of hope to the people in the adventure tourism industry that there is still a future somewhere to look forward to. We did a test run just recently with a foreign expedition team and now have a good idea of how to manage the adventure tourists," added Tamang.