KATHMANDU, JULY 26

Tourist arrivals in the Everest region reached their pre-pandemic levels in the last fiscal year, according to the latest data provided by the Sagarmatha National Park (SNP).

As per the statistics maintained by SNP, 57,690 tourists visited the Everest region in the last fiscal year 2022-23, compared to the arrival of around 53,000 tourists in fiscal 2018-19.

The number of arrivals is a significant increase compared to the previous years when just over 26,000 tourists visited the region in fiscal 2021-22, around 8,195 in 2020-21, and 4,819 tourists in fiscal 2019-20.

Among the total visitors in the previous fiscal year, 6,808 were Nepalis, 6,469 tourists were from SAARC countries while the remaining 44,413 visitors were from other countries.

Likewise, around 480 people were issued permits to scale the world's highest mountain - Mt Sagarmath or famously known as Mt Everest (8,848.86 metres).

The Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality has issued over 11,000 trek cards to tourists entering the region. Despite a mandatory requirement to hire a guide for treks in other regions of the country, foreign tourists visiting the Everest region are not required to do so, according to the local authorities.

According to Laxman Adhikari, chairman of ward four of the rural municipality, the trek card was launched in September 2022 as a trial phase to assist in tracking and ensuring the safety of solo tourists exploring the Khumbu region.

'The trek card was officially launched on April 14, 2023, in coordination between the local and central government. So far, around 11,000 tourists have been issued a 'trek card' while travelling into the region,' he informed.

The municipality is the first to implement an effective tourism management system across the country. Explaining the trek card, Adhikari said that the card would be provided to visiting tourists, which will help authorities to track their checkpoint entries and locations. A number of machines are installed along the trekking trails where the tourists can scan their trek cards to update their locations to the local authorities.

Around 750 households, out of 2,341, are directly involved in the hotels/lodges business in the region, while the remaining households benefit from operating tea shops, tourist shops, trekking, guiding, and selling mountaineering products. As many as 225,235 tourists have visited the region between 2017 and 2022 with revenue of over Rs 450 million collected over the same period, as per a report of the rural municipality.

In the last fiscal year alone, the Sagarmath National Park collected over Rs 143 million in revenue from the distribution and sale of forest resources, tourism activities, fines, and others, during the review period.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 27, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.