Country witnessed fall in number of group trekkers in 2018 Although the number of tourists in 2018 increased, the data compiled by Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) reveals that the number of group trekkers actually declined. According to the data, a total of 97,385 Trekkers’ Information Management System (TIMS) cards had been issued to trekkers in 2018. Of the total, 76,700 TIMS cards were issued to group trekkers by the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) while the remaining were issued to individual trekkers by NTB. Meanwhile, the number of TIMS cards issued to group trekkers stood at 132,126 in 2017. As per NTB’s data, 20,500 group trekkers from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region received TIMS cards while 56,200 TIMS cards were provided to non-SAARC nationals. Likewise in 2017, a total of 110,526 TIMS cards were provided to non-SAARC nationals and 21,600 to SAARC nationals. Trekking entrepreneurs have claimed that the data did not include trekkers in the Mt Everest region in 2018. After the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality started collecting tourism fee trekker numbers in the Everest region were not included in the data of TIMS card. The rural municipality has been collecting Rs 2,000 per person as entrance fee from October 1, 2017 and has refused to accept TIMS card. As per a provision in the Constitution, local governments are allowed to collect tourism fees. Based on this the rural municipality had started levying entrance fee and refused to accept the TIMS card. As a result, the number of TIMS cards declined but not the number of trekkers, said Gopal Shrestha, managing director of Higher Limits and Expedition. “As the Khumbu rural municipality has refused to accept TIMS card, it is getting difficult to collect accurate number of trekkers,” Shrestha said, adding, “The major motive behind issuing TIMS card is to have a proper database of trekkers, which is being affected by the Khumbu rural municipality.” Likewise, Navaraj Dahal, president of TAAN, said that as the Constitution allows the local governments to collect tourism fee they have started collecting it randomly, which has disappointed the trekking industry. He further said that fake rescue scam also slightly affected the number of group trekkers. “The fake rescue scam conveyed a wrong message in the international market that affected the number of trekkers,” he said, “Especially high-altitude trekking has been affected by fake rescue scam.” Moreover, the country is still selling the same old destinations with the same old plans, he added. “We have failed to introduce new destinations with new strategies to attract trekkers,” he said. Dahal also added that the lack of promotional activities and internal coordination are the other reasons behind the declining number of trekkers. Meanwhile, 20,685 free individual trekkers have received TIMS card from NTB this year, among which 4,418 are from SAARC nations and 16,267 from non-SAARC states.