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Nepal welcomes record number of tourists in 2018


 

Oil lamps lit by Nepali devotees in memory of deceased family members are seen along the Bagmati river by the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu during the Balachaturdashi festival on December 6, 2018. Nepali Hindu devotees light oil lamps and sow seven kinds of seeds around temple premises in the name of departed family members in observance of the festival. PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP
Oil lamps lit by Nepali devotees in memory of deceased family members are seen along the Bagmati river by the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu during the Balachaturdashi festival on December 6, 2018. Nepali Hindu devotees light oil lamps and sow seven kinds of seeds around temple premises in the name of departed family members in observance of the festival. PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP

KATHMANDU, Nepal - Tourist arrivals in Nepal topped one million for the first time in 2018 -- boosted by increased visitors from India, China, the US, Sri Lanka and the UK.

The Himalayan nation saw the number of tourists jump nearly 25 percent as it welcomed a record high of 1,173,072 visitors in 2018, the country's tourism authorities said Tuesday.

Rabindra Adhikari, Nepal's tourism minister, called the new total "remarkable".

Last year also saw a record 807 climbers reach the summit of Mount Everest, including 563 summits from Nepal.

Tourism is a major revenue earner for impoverished Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 peaks over 8,000 meters.

Fears for the industry rose after a devastating earthquake in 2015 that killed nearly 9,000 people and destroyed many of the country's heritage sites.

The industry's annual revenues fell by almost a third that year, dealing a devastating blow to the economy, but the sector has since gradually recovered.

Tourism contributed 7.8 percent to Nepal's GDP in 2017, creating over a million jobs, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. — Agence France-Presse

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