Nepal Unveils Trekking Trail Standards Guidelines & Develops Trail AuditorsWednesday, April 19th, 2017

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Feb. 10, 2017 - The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has launched the “Trail Standards Guidelines” for standardizing and grading trails across the country. Alongside, for the first time in its trail history, Nepal has also developed 11 internationally certified trail auditors who are licensed to audit trails and grade them as per the trail standards set in the guidelines.

The guidelines is designed as a summary for easy reference for the planning, construction, management and maintenance to the basic trail types and trail standards to be found in Nepal. It is a guideline of best practices and internationally accepted standards for trails as applied to Nepal’s unique geography and terrain challenges in relation to trail design.

The guidelines also serves as a basis for the implementation of Great Himalaya Trails brand in the country: any trail that meets the core principles of the guideline on safety, quality and better experience for visitors will be accredited to as a Great Himalaya Trails.

The trail auditors represent officials from Department of Tourism, Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Nepal Tourism Board, Annapurna and Manaslu Conservation Area as well as Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal and Village Tourism Promotion Forum - Nepal. The auditors training was facilitated by Samarth-Nepal Market Development Programme, funded by financial assistance of British people (UK Aid) under the technical guidance of Green Flag Trails and World Trails Network.

The 10-day training program kicked off with two days of intense theory and presentations indoors. This was then followed by eight days of trekking on the Annapurna Panorama Trekking Trail following a route from Dhampus via Ghandruk and other smaller villages to Tadapani and ending at Birethanti. The trainees selected to attend the training, were from a diverse cross-section of trail industry representatives, which included trekking professionals, both guides and operators, conservation officers, tourism specialists and development program managers, engineers, and related experts.

Developing and enhancing trails to international standards that offer quality trail experiences, requires that trails are monitored and assessed following a robust system of auditing. This is especially necessary to meet the expectations of the global hiking, walking and trekking tourist. By defining a set of simple yet clear standards for Nepal’s trails and having a committed team of certified trail auditors now available to oversee the implementation of such standards, from signage to safety, is an important step for Nepal in ensuring that the trail experiences offered to the world’s trekking community are both within the bounds of safety and are accurately graded and described.