Nepal hits climbers with higher permit fees

The cost of climbing Mount Everest will soon rise for the first time in almost a decade as Nepal announced a steep hike in permit fees.

From September, those wanting to climb the world’s highest mountain during peak season will have to pay $15,000 (£12,180), a 36% increase from the long-standing fee of $11,000, it was announced on Wednesday.

Fees for those wanting to climb off-peak between April and May will also increase by the same percentage – meaning it will cost $7,500 from September to November and $3,750 from December to February.

Revenue from permit fees is a major source of income for Nepal, with mountaineering and trekking accounting for more than 4% of the country’s economy.

Mountaineering experts often criticize the Nepalese government for allowing too many climbers to climb Everest, but around 300 permits are issued each year to climb the mountain.

It is not yet clear whether the price increase, which has been discussed since last year, will slow demand.

“The royalty (permit fee) has not been revised for a long time,” Narayan Prasad Regmi, director general of the tourism department, told Reuters. “We’ve updated them now.”

Regmi did not specify how the additional revenue would be used.

In April 2024, Nepal’s Supreme Court ordered the government to limit the number of mountaineering permits issued for Everest and other peaks, saying the power of the mountains “must be respected”.

However, the previous order did not specify the maximum number.

Amid concerns about overcrowding on Everest and climbers queuing in dangerous conditions to reach the summit, the Nepalese army in 2019 began an annual cleanup of the mountain, often described as the world’s highest garbage dump.

During that time, at least five cleanups have collected 119 tons of debris, 14 human corpses and several skeletons, according to the Army — but an estimated 200 more bodies remain on the mountain.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.