Ensuring Travel Safety

Bini Dahal

Around January 2023, a photo was posted on a travel page on Facebook. It was the picture of a young foreign woman who was found in the Thorang La Pass of Annapurna Circuit Trek. The post mentioned that the solo trekker had died of altitude sickness and had been found out only after several days of her death. 

In recent times, solo travelling has become the newest trend. While this type of adventure activity offers a learning experience for people, it could also come off to be very risky. And it is especially true when solo travellers go to difficult terrains such as the mountain region and other wilderness areas to experience an adventurous journey. A situation arises when trekkers are unable to adapt to changing climate, and if faced with an emergency, they have no one to rely upon. Sometimes they might leave the right track and go missing. 

In Nepal’s case, most trekking routes along the mountainous and high hilly regions are not inhabited and modes of communication and transportation are not developed well. So, even if something happens to trekkers, no immediate action can be taken to rescue them. Therefore, to encourage and ensure safe travel, Nepal government has introduced a new rule to be effective from upcoming April 1. The rule makes it mandatory for all foreign solo travellers or free independent trekkers (FITs) to hire local guide for their trek. However, this is not applicable to Nepali trekkers. 

This decision has been made to not just make sure a safer travel but also to create employment opportunities for the local people. Because a growing number of people are migrating abroad in search of a job, this move could, to some extent, contribute to retaining them within the country. Likewise, another step decided upon by the government is the increase in the fee for the Trekker's Information Management System (TIMS) card. Trekkers are required to get TIMS permit before starting a trek.

Such decisions might also turn out to be counterproductive as solo travellers may not want to visit, disrupting the inflow of tourists into the country. While the safety perspective is rational, any individual who is highly experienced or a budget traveller would not like to spend their money on hiring a potter or a trekking guide. Also, these days a lot of people want to explore new places on their own. So they really do not want to hire any kind of assistance.

In this post-COVID situation, Nepal’s tourism industry has been in a recovery stage. However, travellers have taken conditions like poor air safety as a risk. And now the growing inflation and the new mandatory rule may further raise a big question whether the tourism industry will really improve as envisaged. The concerned authorities should equally work to manage trekking trails and make sure that proper facilities and services are available there. 

Not just this, for all the popular destinations to be highlighted, the proper amount of information should be disseminated in an effective manner. These steps may help ensure safety of trekkers. How can safety be ensured and how can tourists be encouraged to visit the country should be the key focus of the government. Policies that dissuade tourists from coming can in no way be beneficial. Due attention should be given to this matter. With correct and timely efforts, we can be hopeful for our tourism industry to prosper in the coming years.