Everest Adventure Travel Package (ATP) Analysis: Suppliers’ Perspective

December 2011

Executive Summary

“the Off” research report on adventure travel and tourism (ATT) industry evaluates and profiles “Everest” named adventure travel packages (ATPs). The market sample consists of 221 “Everest” named ATPs supplied by forty-five (45) adventure travel companies (ATCs) located in eight different countries. Methods of analysis include ATP classification, ATP duration, ATP price, ATP price vs. duration comparison, share analysis, use of statistical functions like average and median, and comparison of the cheapest and the costliest ATPs. An attempt is also made to throw light on grading pattern across the five main ATP categories:

v Everest Climbing Expeditions (ECEs)

v Everest Base Camp (EBC) Trips (EBCTs)

v EBC + Other Destinations (EBC + ODs)

v Everest + Other Destinations (EODs)

v Other Everest Trips (OETs)

Key findings follow:

Supply of 11-20 days long ATPs is the maximum.
Supply of multi-destination EODs ATPs is the highest.
Most of the ATP names are self-explanatory.
Nepal-side ATPs account for 87.78%, whereas Tibet-side ATPs for just 12.22%.
There is no direct relationship between ATP duration and price.
Comparing ATP prices even within the same category is difficult.
Nepali ATCs have cost advantage over ATCs based in other countries.
Average ATP price ranges from USD 47.57 per day, per person to USD 1,754.39 per day, per person.

Adoption of varied ATP grading scales across ATCs renders comparison difficult.
Primary destination (s) of each of main ATP category except OET is the same, which is evident from ATP classification. However, grading, per day, per person price and services are not similar.
KE Adventures (United Kingdom), Himalayan Glacier Trekking (Nepal) and World Expeditions (Australia) are major suppliers of the “Everest” named ATPs.
Although both EBCTs and ECEs are single-primary destination ATPs, the former accounts for 28.96% and the latter about 6.79% of total ATPs analyzed. ECEs are two-activity packages.

Recommendations highlighted in the report include:

ATP grade standardization
Price parameter standardization for the same ATP by collective effort of ATCs
Display complete price details of the ATP on the websites
Need to offer comprehensive product portfolio at competitive prices
Nepali ATCs need to redesign the Everest ATPs and marketing strategy to compete with ATCs-based in other countries.

Some of the research limitations are given below:

Data was collected only from the websites of ATCs surveyed due to limited resources available at the disposal of “the Off.”
Sample size is quite small.

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