KATHMANDU, APRIL 09
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari today honoured two renowned tourism leaders for their contributions in promoting Nepal's adventure tourism in the global market.
Amidst a function today, President Bhandari awarded Santa Bir Lama and Mingma Gelu Sherpa with the prestigious award - Praval Janasewa Shree (IV) - in recognition of their contributions to the country's tourism and social service sectors.
Lama is the president of Nepal Mountaineering Association while Everest summiteer Sherpa serves as the managing director of the Seven Summit Adventure Pvt Ltd. Being involved in the NMA for over two decades, Lama played a significant role in promoting mountain tourism in world market. With his able leadership, NMA is actively involved in boosting up adventure tourism in the country. Born in Kavre, Lama also serves as honorary member of the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation - UIAA, according to NMA board member Shiva Bahadur Sapkota.
Besides leading the country's only alpine club, Lama has also played a significant role in strengthening people-to-people ties between Japan and Nepal. Lama, who promotes Nepali coffee in the international market, is also involved in different social services.
Sherpa, 42, who has an extensive experience of over 20 years in mountaineering tourism, had also received one of the highest honours from the Russian mountaineering community in 2019.
Sherpa, a young tourism entrepreneur from Makalu region, is also involved in promoting friendly relations and cooperation between Russia and Nepal. Sherpa has supported scores of Russian climbers to scale different peaks, including Everest. Born in Makalu region of Sankhuwasabha district, Sherpa along with Seven Summits Club has been running exclusive expeditions on Everest every year. One of board directors of Altitude Air Pvt Ltd, Sherpa has also scaled Mt Everest seven times.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 10, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
