Impact of Tourism on Everest Region

This collection of articles examines the impact of tourism on the Everest region in Nepal. It discusses the environmental consequences, such as the accumulation of trash on Mount Everest, as well as the socio-economic and cultural changes brought about by tourism. The articles also explore potential solutions for sustainable development in the region.

Annotated Bibliography
Brändlin, A. (2014). Taking control of Everest climbers' environmental impact. [online]
Deutsche Welle. Available at: https://www.dw.com/en/taking-control-of-everest-
climbers-environmental-impact/a-17502443 [Accessed 1 May 2019].
The ongoing boom in alpine tourism has resulted in Mount Everest being covered with
debris. According to the Nepalese authorities, the number of visitors to the Sagarmatha
National Park, housing the Everest, has more than tripled over the last 20 years. Owing to the
rising number of tourists, a greater amount of debris is left behind on the mountains such as
food-wrappers, oxygen cylinders, climbing gear, as well as the bodies of climbers having
died along the way. Owing to the frigid temperatures, the trash does not biodegrade. During
the last six decades, it is estimated that about 50 tons of trash has been left behind on the
Mount Everest, resulting in it earning the nickname of the world’s highest garbage dump.
Mountaineering associations have objected to the rising number of inexperienced climbers
who leave behind their garbage in order to conserve the energy needed to reach the summit or
else return to the base camp alive. Finally the Nepal's tourism ministry has sprung into
action by declaring that from April 2014, each climber who goes beyond the base camp must
bring back at least eight kilograms (17.6 pounds) of his or her personal waste and deposit it to
officials stationed there. The prime objective was to ensure that no new trash was left on the
Everest. Everest climbers are required to pay a deposit of $4,000 (2,900 euros) which would
be refunded if proved that everything that was taken up the mountain had been brought back,
however, it has been difficult to enforce this rule. The Director of Programs, Gordon Janow,
of the United States-based mountaineering school, Alpine Ascents has welcomed the new
trash rule as he believes that there should be personal responsibility for removing items off
the mountain but wasn’t sure how the new rule would be implemented.

Nepal, S. (2005). Tourism and Remote Mountain Settlements: Spatial and Temporal
Development of Tourist Infrastructure in the Mt Everest Region, Nepal. Tourism
Geographies, 7(2), pp.205-227.
The author SANJAY K. NEPAL explores the structural and sequential impact of the tourism
industry on the human settlements arrangements and developments in and around Everest in
Nepal. The article is a credible source as it appeared recently in an academic journal
pertaining to the tourism development. The article specifically relates to the development of
tourism in the Everest region and hence studies the targeted destination. The article adds to
the study of human civilization in the Everest region and make its growth stages more
comprehendible. Further, it also describes the evolution along the varied phases, aspects that
led to the changes and respective transitions and the shift in practical traits of single housing.
Over the thirty years of thriving tourism business in the rural villages of Everest district in
Nepal, the structure of the old-style of human civilizations has changed in those region. The
demand arising from the tourism business in the region has not only led to considerable
increase in the construction of accommodations, but even traditional residential houses are
been transformed into contemporary tourist lodgings and hotels. The development of human
habitats and lodging facilities are done in a process which usually flows from the movement
of travellers and their requirement instead of the conservative operations of settlements in the
village in Everest region. The findings revealed five distinct and main settlement in the
Everest region along with their development phases, dimension and role being identified in
the study. The human accommodation have gone through various changes, right from the
prime occupation of animal herding in villages to periodic tourist centres and into stable
structures in the present day. The study concluded that a detailed investigation and analysis of

settlements in the remote mountainous region is necessary for the gaining a better perspective
of the area dynamic nature, and in developing approaches for a structured growth.
Rai, D. (2017). Tourism development and economic and socio-cultural consequences in
Everest Region. Geographical Journal of Nepal, 10, pp.89-104.
The author Dhyanendra Bahadur Rai writes about the impact of tourism in the Everest region,
both socio-economically and culturally. Everest Region (Sagarmatha National Park) has
become the second-most popular trekking destination in Nepal after the Annapurna Region.
The number of tourists visiting the Everest Region has risen considerably from 1406 in the
year 1971-72 to 37124 in 2014-15 (as per the records of Sagarmatha National Park at
Jorsale). The author carried out a detailed study of the hiking routes from Lukla to Dinboche,
and conducted interviews of key persons in the region as well tourism business survey. The
findings of the study suggested the quantum of hotels and guest-inns in the towns and regions
all along the trekking route has gone up significantly. The principal basis of economic life of
the Sherpa community has undergone a distinct change from the earlier agro-pastoralism to
the evolving tourism-based business. The level of employment as well as the income of
native people has improved significantly. Nevertheless, tourism has diluted the Sherpa
culture with the introduction of new values as well as lifestyles influenced by westerners,
eroding the fundamental role of religion as well as traditional values of the Sherpa
community. The younger generation find the tourists’ behavioural norms as well as
consumption patterns to be pretty seductive. This is a sure sign of the loss of cultural value of
the Sherpa community as well as their world identity going forward. The social impact of
tourism development can be seen in the rising social tensions between those that benefit from
tourism and those that do not benefit, as well as between the large stakeholders (big
hoteliers), the smaller stakeholders (tiny tea-shop owners), local entrepreneurs as well as
newcomers.

Wright, L. (2014). Highway to Everest: infrastructure at the expense of nature? | DW |
13.08.2014. [online] Deutsche Welle. Available at: https://www.dw.com/en/highway-to-
everest-infrastructure-at-the-expense-of-nature/a-17851821 [Accessed 1 May 2019].
The author expresses the benefit and concerns accruing from the building of a road in the
mountainous region of the Everest. On 12th of August, the Nepalese government announced
plans for developing infrastructure in the region by building the first hard-surface road there.
This development would help provide a major boost to the tourism industry as well as the
economy. However, the question was whether Nepal could afford to risk the environmental
damage to its main attraction that would result from the influx of more tourists in that region.
The 100 kilometre road would link Jiri, a small town which functions as the trailhead for
several Everest trekking routes, with Surkhe village, which is only a couple of hours walk
from the Tenzing-Hillary Airport located in Lukla. As of now, unpredictable weather
conditions which have disrupted flights to Lukla airport have worked as a regulator in
restricting the number of people being able to access the Everest region. The Nepalese
government hopes that the new highway would serve as a reliable connectivity for this
isolated area. The road would definitely facilitate tourism as well as transportation of cargo
and thus would have a major positive impact on the local population. It would boost the
income of the locals due to consequent rise in domestic as well as international tourism
thereby helping improve equality in Nepal. However, with almost 35,000 tourists visiting the
Everest region every year, there are growing concerns that the rising hordes of trekkers would
take a serious toll on the landscape. The planned development for the country’s infrastructure
as well as tourism industry isn’t necessarily at odds with environmental protection. This is
because eco-tourism projects have established that infrastructure could be developed to
support the tourism industry in a far more sustainable manner through the integration of

communities, local practices, as well as resources. The article is a recent publication in the
Deutsche Welle news site and involves the Everest region of Nepal.
Sharma, S., Manandhar, P. and Khadka, S., 2011. Everest tourism: forging links to
sustainable mountain development-a critical discourse on politics of places and peoples.
European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation, 2(2), pp.31-51.
In the paper, the authors have brought the attention on the issue of severe exploitation of
resources, lack of resource management and declining traditional official and social reins and
feedback loops. The article studies the connections between tourism engagements and the
shifts in socioeconomic power relationships of stakeholders of Everest tourism. The authors
investigates and understood the tourism strategies from the perspective of the dialectical
phenomenology. The study analysed that due to the erosion of the resources in the fragile
landscapes, the income gap between different fragments of the society is widening. The
article employs various theory to interpret the impact of tourism intervention upon the
regional surrounding, culture, occupation of the locals and analyses them in the relation with
the general socioeconomic authority in the area. The authors stresses on the concern of
increasing the capabilities of the local people who are exploited and doing value addition to
the local resources for employing sustainable practices. The authors also recommends to
employ local people for the authorial positions and having their participation in regional
development, to eradicate the income inequalities. In order to maintain sustainability in the
region it is needed to link together the efforts taken both in the domestic as well in the
international level regarding the developmental programs. The article concludes with the help
of Ecological Modernization Theory that the mere intervention of Everest tourism, the
sustainability of the local settlement, setting and economy of the region could not be assured.
The article directly relates to the sustainable development of Everest region, so as to not

disrupt the ecological balance of the nature as well also sustain the livelihood of the local
people.
Nepal, S. (2014). Everest tourism is causing a mountain of problems. [online] The
Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/everest-tourism-is-causing-a-
mountain-of-problems-23953 [Accessed 1 May 2019].
The author addresses a key issue facing the Everest region, which is that of implementing the
policies formulated by the government. Though the Nepal government have formulated a
policy which mandates each trekker to bring back 8 kgs of trash with them. However, the
new regulation of decreasing the mountaineering permit fees has led to more influx of
trekkers in the region. Hence, the authorities are only interested in passing policies but not
implement them. The liaison officers assigned to the Everest region do not make up till the
Base camp even, since most of them are not prepared for the harsh climate or trained. Thus,
none of them knows whether the policies are implemented. Due to the decrease in the fees of
the trekker, the climbers who are attracted to the region lack the necessary skills in the
mountain climbing. The author gives a suggestion to appoint a local person as the liaison
officer who can supervise the effective implementation of the policies made. Additionally,
the Sherpa community needs to be actively engaged in the protection of the Everest region.
the author also urges the creation of a resilient committee to look after the conservational
efforts in the higher altitude of the mountain. They should comprise both the western and
local guides to enable the effective implementation of the policies. Efforts should be made to
bring down the bodies of those climbers who dies on the way. Hence, the authors stresses
upon the combination of a number of practices to tackle the problem of rising garbage in the
Everest region. The article is a recent publication and the author Sanjay Nepal is the associate
Professor of Environmental Management in the University of Waterloo giving him the
authority to write on the environmental concern of the Everest region in Nepal.