TAAN for lowering TIMS fee for SAARC nationals

Update: 13-12-2011

Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal has proposed to the government to lower Trekkers’ Information Management System (TIMS) fee for tourists from SAARC countries, considering growing attraction of tourists from the region toward adventure tourism. TAAN President Mahindra Singh Thapa said the association has $20 per person. FITs aren’t allowed to take trekking guides and porters with them. Thapa said they’ve proposed special rates for South Asian tourists, especially the Indians, because the number of Indian tourists going for short treks is growing.  He further added that the new rates might be enforced from January next year. Arrivals from South Asia region constitute more than one-third of the total tourist arrivals to Nepal.

More than 120,000 Indian tourists visited Nepal over the first 10 months of 2011, a rise of 42.4 percent as compared to the figures of the same period of last year.