Kathmandu, August 31

The government has endorsed a guideline on search, rescue, treatment and monitoring of tourists, holding the agencies involved in the rescue operations primarily accountable.

A meeting at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation passed the guideline today, as a large number of cases regarding fraud in the name of rescue came into light recently.

As per the guideline, the agencies involved in the rescue of tourists will have to mandatorily insure tourists and submit the report on various tools used in their rescue, and the details of all the related costs including hospitalisation charge to the Department of Tourism via Tourist Police.

Similarly, rescue agencies must compulsorily report to Tourist Police if they are unable to conduct the rescue operation on their own.

The guideline has prohibited agencies from conducting adventure tourism activities without taking related permission from the Department of Tourism.

Meanwhile, the guideline has also made it mandatory for airlines and helicopter companies to submit a report to the government on the total number of rescue flights conducted during a season within 15 days of completion of every season.

According to the guideline, in case of confusion and dispute regarding search, rescue and treatment of tourists, government will immediately form a committee under the leadership of director general of Department of Tourism, who will then investigate and recommend the action to be taken.

The guideline has clearly mentioned that henceforth no agent of a foreign company will be allowed to be involved in search, rescue and treatment of tourists.