Nepal cuts royalty for Mt. Qomolangma climbers

Facing pressures, the Nepalese government has decided to whittle down the royalty fee by 50 percent for Mt. Qomolangma (Everest) climbers, a government statement said on Thursday. The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation published a notice in Nepal Gazette confirming that the government has decided to slash the royalty to promote the country's tourism through mountaineering. The government took such decision after widespread criticism that it is discouraging the mountaineering by levying high royalty fee on climbers. "The revised rate is 11,000 U.S. dollars for a foreigner aspiring to climb Mt. Everest during the spring season from the normal route (South East Ridge)," the notice said. Earlier, the fee was fixed at 25,000 dollars per person. The new decision will come into effect from Jan. 1, 2015. Though the fee has been cut for individual climbers, the group royalty fee has left unchanged. The new decision aims to encourage individual climbers instead of group climbers, which have brought several problems on the world's tallest peak. A Mt. Qomolangma expedition group with a maximum of 15 members currently costs 10,000 dollars per person. Meanwhile, the Nepalese government is preparing to make mountaineering more systematic from the next season. The ministry is preparing to set up a separate office at the Qomolangma base camp to regulate mountaineering activities. In the last season, more than three hundred people climbed Mt. Qomolangma.