Kathmandu, July 24 :

Following the government announcement to introduce trekking registration certificate (TRC) for trekkers in the open trekking regions, the Trekking Agents Association of Nepal (TAAN) is gearing up to put in place the necessary provisions.

TAAN has formed a nine-member taskforce, with its past-president Deepak Mahat as the coordinator, to oversee the formulation of TRC as well as to decide about the fee structure.

Finance minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, in his budget speech, had announced that tourists should take TRC from TAAN, to control revenue leakage in the open trekking regions by illegal business activities.

“TRC will ensure safety of tourists as well as promote responsible tourism practices in the trekking regions,” said Narendra BC, president of TAAN. He further said that the provision would be helpful in keeping statistics and track records related to trekking.

TRC has been made mandatory for every tourist going to for trekking purposes in the open trekking regions including Mt Everest, Annapurna, Langtang and Kanchenjungha trekking routes. TAAN will issue TRC upon request of the government registered trekking agencies prior to departure for trekking.

Necessary consultations are being undertaken with ministries including tourism and civil aviation, home as well as the department of national parks and wildlife conservation, Nepal Tourism Board, Annapurna Conservation Area Project, King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation and other stakeholders, BC told this daily.

The taskforce has been mandated to come up with detailed provisions and the modus operandi for TRC including fees and office structure, he informed, “The fees will be very nominal and a singe rate for all the routes and duration of the trekking is likely to be formed.” TAAN plans to come with a comprehensive programme for effective implementation of TRC, he said, “A new software will be developed to maintain detailed information about tourists.”

A separate office for issuing TRC will be set up in Thamel and Pokhara, with adequate staff and will be open seven days a week. “We will try our best to simplify paper procedure

and avoid unnecessary hassles,” BC claimed. Even though it is still at a preliminary stage, TAAN is planning to start issuing TRC on September 27, the World Tourism Day, if everything goes as planned, he said.

The government’s new move comes following repeated complaints from registered trekking agencies that individuals, hotels, guest houses and even foreign tour operators are making arrangements for trekking at their own, evading taxes. This new provision seems to please registered trekking agencies. However, it will be a burden for individual trekkers who wish to do trekking at their own. Since according to the new provision, every trekker has to go through trekking agencies for TRC.

According to the tourism industry division, there are 762 registered trekking firms in Nepal. However, about 500 are active currently.