Nepal Tourism Board Names 5 New Members — Including a Trekking Guide Chosen From 1,100 Applicants

On July 14, 2026, Nepal's Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation seated five new private-sector members on the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), the state body that markets Nepal abroad and helps steer standards across the trekking, expedition and hospitality trade. The name that will matter most to anyone booking a Himalayan trip is Pemba Sherpa, founder of 8K Expeditions, who was born in the remote Makalu valley and has spent nearly 15 years running treks and high-altitude expeditions before moving into tourism education and now the national board itself.

The selection process itself says something about how seriously Nepal is treating the appointment. A recommendation committee chaired by Ram Krishna Lamichhane, director general of the Department of Tourism, reviewed applications from more than 1,100 people working in tourism nationwide, narrowed the field to ten, and then handed the final call to a ministerial-level decision. That is a far more competitive process than the board has typically drawn, and it produced a lineup weighted toward people who have actually run treks and expeditions rather than pure administrators.

Pemba Sherpa's own path is a useful snapshot of how far Nepal's guiding trade has professionalised. He started on the trail side of the business, working his way through expedition and trek management roles, later taught at a Kathmandu tourism college, and served as general manager at a major trekking agency overseeing safety and service standards before founding 8K Expeditions, which now runs 8,000-metre climbs alongside classic treks. Having someone who has personally organised high-altitude logistics — permits, staffing ratios, rescue planning — sitting on the body that helps shape national tourism policy is a meaningfully different voice than the board has often had.

What this means for trekkers

For now, the practical takeaway is reassurance rather than a rule change: Nepal's tourism authority just handed real seats to people who have actually stood at Everest Base Camp or the Makalu approach organising a trek, not only to career administrators. Anyone booking a Himalayan trip in the coming years — whether a classic Everest Base Camp itinerary or a technical climb on Island Peak or Mera Peak — is dealing with an industry whose regulator now has more boots-on-the-ground experience at the table than it has in years.

Source: The Himalayan Times, with additional reporting from The Tourism Times.

Cover photo: Namal Siriwardana via Pexels (Pexels License).