In a bid to give tourism a kick start in earthquake ravaged Nepal, the government has sought help from some famous names in the mountaineering world to become tourism ambassadors for the country.
The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation unveiled a list of goodwill ambassadors it hopes will encourage tourists to return to Nepal in increasing numbers.
These include famed Japanese Everest climber Junko Tabei, and climbers Peter Hillary and Jamling Tenzing, who are the sons of the world’s first two climbers to ascend Mt Everest – Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgey Sherpa respectively.
Among the list are accomplished Nepali women climbers Mingma Sherpa, Lyakpa Rita Sherpa, Susmita Maskey and Shaille Basnet, and mountaineers from Europe including Ralf Dujmovits of Germany and Doc McKarr of the UK.
The ambassadors were named during an event in Kathmandu celebrating the international Mt Everest day.
Although a wide area of the landscape and infrastructure surrounding Mt Everest has been devastated by earthquake, most established trekking routes remain intact.
