KATHMANDU: The Department of Tourism has issued a formal directive warning trekking agencies against advertising and selling overnight stay packages at Everest Base Camp expedition camps, citing serious violations of mountaineering regulations that have come to its attention during the ongoing Spring 2026 season.

In a circular issued, the department has directed all liaison officers and trekking agencies operating in the Khumbu region to immediately cease such practices.

The directive invokes Regulation 9(D2) of the Mountaineering Regulations, 2059, which explicitly prohibits anyone other than expedition team members, sirdars, mountain guides, high-altitude workers, base camp workers, and local workers from staying at base camp without prior departmental approval. The circular makes clear that conducting or facilitating overnight stays for general tourists or trekkers at expedition camps — including through packaged itineraries — constitutes a direct violation of this legal provision.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation echoed the directive publicly, stating that action will be taken against any individual or agency found acting in contravention of the existing legal framework. "Anyone found violating this provision will face action in accordance with the law," the ministry said.

The department has urged all liaison officers and trekking agencies to carry out their work strictly in accordance with mountaineering regulations and to refrain from any activity that falls outside the legal framework — or face consequences.

The move comes as Base Camp hosts one of its busiest seasons in recent years, with 425 climbers permitted on Everest alone and hundreds of support staff, logistics teams, and coordination personnel operating in the area. The commercialisation of Base Camp access — including its growing appeal as a trekking endpoint marketed through overnight packages — has drawn increasing scrutiny from authorities seeking to protect both the integrity of the expedition environment and the safety of those who enter it.