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'Most Asian countries don't welcome gay visitors, so we can have the maximum benefit for the Nepal economy which is fragile after years of war'
Gay marriage was legalised in May
Nepal courts gay tourism with weddings on Everest
Nepal's recent decriminalisation of "unnatural sex acts" and legalisation of gay marriage in May this year will be marked by an effort to promote the country as the gay tourism capital of Asia, including the hosting of a conference next month to consider how it could be done.
As an opening move, Nepal's tourism minister wrote a welcome statement for last October's International Conference on Gay and Lesbian Tourism in Boston, in which he said he believed his country would benefit from an increase in gay tourists.
Shortly before war-torn Nepal became a republic in 2008, its supreme court ordered the government to overturn laws that discriminated against sexual minorities.
Sunil Babu Pant, Asia's only openly gay member of parliament and the leader of the country's gay rights movement, has launched a travel company to attract gay tourists and the pink pound and dollar to the former Hindu kingdom.
Pink Mountain will offer luxury honeymoon and wedding packages, including elephant-back bridal processions and ceremonies at Everest base camps and in remote Tibetan enclaves in the Himalayas.
"Most Asian countries don't welcome gay visitors, so we can have the maximum benefit for the Nepal economy which is fragile after years of war," Pant told the Daily Telegraph.
"The government is hoping to increase the number of tourists from 400,000 to one million next year and has taken a positive attitude to welcoming gay and lesbian visitors to help meet their ambitious target," he said.
