Everest climbers to get free Nepal visas

More than 4,000 climbers have scaled the 8,850 metre (29,035 feet) Everest summit since it was first climbed by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953. Some 700 of these foreigners are said to be still alive.

"We will waive the visa fees for them to visit Nepal in 2010 and 2011 part of the Nepal Tourism Year plan," Ranjan Aryal, the most senior bureaucrat in the tourism ministry told Reuters this week.

Himalayan Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, has designated 2011 as the year to boost tourism. It plans to receive one million visitors next year, up from nearly half a million now.

Tourism accounts for 4 per cent of the gross domestic product but travel officials say political unrest, frequent general strikes and shutdowns of transportation and roads had hit the industry.

Officials said nearly 200 foreigners who have climbed Mount Dhaulagiri, the world's seventh highest at 8,167 metres (26,794 feet), would also get free visa this year and in 2011 as Nepal marks the 50th anniversary this week of the first ascent of Dhaulagiri by a Swiss-Austrian expedition. Climbers will also get a 50 per cent discount in climbing fees for Dhaulagiri for the rest of 2010 and all of next year as part of the celebrations, another official said.