Sherpas, Tourism, and Cultural Change in Nepal's Mount Everest Region

Abstract

During the past 40 years the Mount Everest region has become one of the foremost centers of Himalayan trekking and mountaineering tourism. Tourism has brought new opportunities for the Sherpas who inhabit the area, and many have become affluent through work in the tourist trade and the operation of tourist lodges and other businesses. This economic development has been accompanied by increasing economic differentiation and by a number of changes in local lifestyles as well as by cross-cultural conflicts between tourists and Sherpas. Yet, there has also been considerable cultural continuity. Sherpas are deliberately maintaining many fundamental values, beliefs subsistence practices, and aspects of their lifestyle. Economic differentiation and out-migration, however, pose potential long-term social challenges.