Nepal Tourism Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari said the country wants to re-establish tourism and hopes to become the first nation in Asia to allow same-sex marriages, Timesonline reports.

Mr Bhandari said he has already written to the International Conference on Gay & Lesbian Tourism in Boston.

“As the world knows, Nepal is the land of Mount Everest, world’s highest peak and the birth place of Lord Buddha, light of Asia,” the message said.

“I, therefore, would like to take this opportunity to invite and welcome all the sexual and gender minorities from around the world.”

Nepal is also due to host the first Asian Symposium on Gay & Lesbian Tourism in Kathmandu in June.

Up until 2007 homosexuality was classified as a crime, punishable by up to two years in prison.

Gays and lesbians were beaten by police and denounced by Maoist rebels as “a product of capitalism.”

But a same-sex marriage law is working its way through parliament after a Supreme Court ruling in 2008 that ordered the Government to safeguard the rights of "sexual minorities."

And the tourism board is already talking about same-sex weddings on Mt Everest, elephant safaris for gay honeymooners and other specialist activities.