China has always come up with maverick tourism choices and
this time it’s with Mount Everest. The south-facing side of the mountain is in
Nepal and is more common amongst the mountaineers and tourists. Although the
Tibetan north face is lesser known, it too holds interesting mountaineering
history. In its new ambitious visions, China has outlined a plan for
commercializing it.
In the former months of 2016, China opened a new paved road
which is about 14,000 feet up the elevation and ends at the base camp parking
lot. The new plan outlines to create an international mountaineering centre
which will have hotels, restaurants, training facilities, and search-and-rescue
services. They are also planning for creating a museum. so, if these amenities
are established, it will be APPalling to trekkers and tourists who otherwise
complain about the largely undeveloped landscape of Nepal. And China also hopes
that this new idea will help to bring economic growth to politically fractious
Tibet, and also promote tourism. In fact, Tibet could be one of the best winter
sports’ destinations and specially ahead of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Developing the area around Everest will help to achieve all these goals and
maintain the sustainable tourism concept.
In 2014, tourism accounted for 8.9 percent of Nepal’s gross
domestic product, with trekking and mountaineering playing the most visible
role. One estimate places the total value of the sector there at $340 million.
Nepal’s government typically collects more than $3 million in Everest permit
fees each year, at $11,000 a pop. Sadly, these fees were not planned and
utilised wisely which gives China an opening. Corruption, mismanagement and
safety issues are other contributing factors which are causing trekker tourists
lose their interest. Climbers are required to pay “liaison officers” up to
$3,000 to accompany them, for example, but a recent government investigation
found that most of the officers simply accept the fees without bothering to
leave Kathmandu. This contributes to a range of chronic troubles, including
inexperienced climbers, overcrowding and pervasive garbage.
Safety however still remains the major reason. Just above
base camp on the Nepali slope sits the Khumbu Icefall, a treacherous expanse of
in-motion glacial ice that has been responsible for the majority of deaths on
Everest over the years. Also, inexperienced trekkers and overcrowding add to
the danger quotient. With all these ideas in mind, it’s giving Tibet a second
look for the chance of developing its tourism sector. China has started to
aggressively restrict inexperienced climbers and would thus reduce the risk of
dangerous traffic jams. The functioning liaison system of China is staffed by
competent government officials who manage climbing teams and their waste.
On the other side of the story, this competition might seem
bad for Nepal, which is already struggling to rebuild its tourism industry
after being hit by a devastating earthquake in 2015. With many of its cultural
treasures destroyed, some mountains and trails still inaccessible, and politics
unstable, and it seems that it won’t get easier anytime soon. China is APProaching
the Himalayas as the Europeans have the Alps which is a better APProach to
high-altitude tourism.