Trekkers' Information Management System (TIMS) has been implemented jointly by Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN) to ensure safety and security of trekkers and to control illegal trekking operations.

Trekking companies will be asked to furnish personal information of trekkres like their passport numbers, nationality and their contact address and their itinerary. The data will be uploaded in visitors’ database which can be accessed in case of accidents and/or natural calamities in order to inform the concerned institutions about the number of trekkers inside a certain trekking area.

TIMS cards should be collected by both Free Individual Trekkers (FITs) and trekkers taking the service of government authorized trekking agencies.

Past experiences have revealed that difficulties were seen while carrying out rescue operations during times of accidents and natural calamities. Due to the lack of proper record system of trekkers, rescue and search missions used to face difficulties in spotting the missing trekkers. Based on the data collected through TIMS cards, however, it will be possible to know the position of a trekker in case a rescue operation is needed.

The provision of Trekkers' Information Management System (TIMS) came into effect on January 1, 2008. Since then, the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) and Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) started recording trekkers’ details and began issuing TIMS Card to trekkers.

As per the recent MoU signed by NTB and TAAN, TIMS card is applicable in all trekking areas of the country including restricted areas. Group trekkers will have to pay Blue TIMS cards by paying a fee of Rs 1,000 per person, while FITs have to get Green TIMS cards by paying a fee of Rs 2,000. Similarly, group trekkers from SAARC countries have to pay Rs 300 for TIMS cards, while FITs from the SAARC region have to pay Rs 600 each.

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