KATHMANDU, APRIL 24 The Nepal government has merged two of the country's principal tourism and mountaineering training institutions, the Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM) and the Nepal Mountain Academy (NMA), into a single unified body, establishing the Nepal Tourism, Hotel and Mountain Institution Development Committee. It will be officially known as the Nepal Academy of Tourism, Hotel and Mountaineering, retaining the NATHM abbreviation, through a gazette notification published on April 23, 2026. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation confirmed the merger, saying the two institutions have been formally consolidated under one roof, with all assets, liabilities, rights and ongoing operations of the predecessor bodies automatically transferred to the new institution. The earlier formation orders for the Nepal Tourism and Hotel Management Committee of 2029 and the Mountain Training Development Committee of 2059 stand repealed. The merger is part of a broader governance reform agenda. The Good Governance Blueprint 2082, unveiled by the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, proposes scrapping around a dozen public entities while merging others and transferring some to provincial and local levels. The blueprint highlights the need to integrate entities that perform similar functions, as well as those that are inactive or ineffective, to make the administrative system more prompt, efficient and accountable to citizens. The merger of NATHM and the Nepal Mountain Academy was among the proposals specifically identified in the blueprint. Established in 1972 with UNDP and ILO support, NATHM introduced Nepal's first Bachelor of Hotel Management in 1999 and a Bachelor of Travel and Tourism Management in 2003. Operated by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation from its Kathmandu campus, it now offers bachelor's and master's degrees in hospitality and tourism, with branches in Birtamode, Banke and Mahottari. The Nepal Mountain Academy, founded in 2002, combines academic instruction in Kathmandu with practical high-altitude field training, attracting mountaineering students and instructors from across Nepal and internationally. The new committee will be chaired by the ministry secretary and will include members from the Finance Ministry, the Education Ministry, the National Planning Commission, the Department of Immigration, the Nepal Tourism Board and the tourism industry's principal associations - the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal, the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents and the Hotel Association of Nepal. One woman with experience in mountain tourism, nominated by the government, will also serve as a member. The institution's mandate covers developing and running educational and training programmes for the hotel, tourism and mountaineering sectors, conducting research and surveys, providing practical hospitality training, establishing academic linkages with domestic and foreign universities, and recommending to the government the opening of new peaks for mountaineering. An Executive Director appointed from among senior gazetted civil servants will head day-to-day operations on a four-year non-renewable term. The Executive Director must sign a performance agreement with the committee chair within 30 days of appointment and is subject to removal for failure to perform duties, misconduct or acts against the institution's interests. The institution will maintain a separate fund drawing from government grants, donations, international organisation contributions, service revenue and other lawful sources, and must submit annual reports to the ministry within three months of the end of each fiscal year. Accounts will be audited internally and finally by the Auditor General.