33 per cent more tourists visit Everest in 2016

Kathmandu: Over 33 per cent more tourists visited the Mount Everest region in Nepal in 2016 as compared to the previous year when the deadly temblor struck the Himalayan nation, a media report said on Monday.

As many as 27,465 tourists visited the Everest region in 2015 while the number was recorded at 36,694 in 2016, The Himalayan Times reported, quoting Assistant Sub Inspector of Police (ASI) Sarayug Mahato at Tourist Police Office, Lukla.

The number of tourists visiting the region in 2016 exceeds the previous year by 9,229, an increase of 33.66 per cent.

The tourist arrival in the mountainous region had drastically fallen due to the deadly April 25 earthquake in 2015 and the unofficial Nepal-India border blockade; but it increased in 2016 as the situation became more favourable, Namche's tourist entrepreneur Lama Kaji Sherpa said.