Three months after two earthquakes and resulting avalanches killed 8,897 people in Nepal, the country鈥檚 government reopened the trekking trail on Annapurna last week. Most trekking routes in Nepal were closed after the earthquakes.
, California-based聽structural and earthquake engineering firm Miyamoto International聽carried out a safety assessment of the most popular tourist trails in the Everest and Annapurna regions at the behest of Nepal鈥檚 government. The two areas draw 70 percent of the country鈥檚 climbers and trekkers, with 140,000 of them visiting annually.
Miyamoto found that聽along Annapurna鈥檚 149-mile trail circuit, less than 1 percent of the route was damaged, Reuters reports. Also, only 3 percent of guesthouses sustained聽any damage. The firm will release its Everest report soon.
Despite the reopening and Miyamoto鈥檚 report, the Nepal government worries that tourist arrivals may drop by 40 percent this year due to safety concerns. 鈥淭here has been a decline in foreign tourists since the earthquake,鈥 Suresh Man Shrestha, secretary of聽Nepal鈥檚 Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, . 鈥淭ourism is very important for Nepal鈥檚 economy and for the Nepalese people. But we needed to assess which areas of the trekking regions have to be reconstructed for the safety of our visitors.鈥