China to blacklist tourists who deface Mount Everest with graffiti

China plans to blacklist tourists who behave badly. The China National Tourism Administration will soon introduce a system to shame visitors who spoil Mount Everest and other tourist places with graffiti and doodles.

"Starting this year, we will set up a blacklist system to punish badly-behaved tourists, such as those who leave graffiti. The blacklist will be made public through media outlets," the BBC quoted Gu Chunlei, deputy head of the tourism bureau of Tingri County in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as saying.

Gu added visitors need to register before entering the Himalayan region and this will make their task easier to spot the offenders. "The spectacular natural scenery has lost its beauty because of the graffiti," he said.

The North Base Camp, located in Tibet at the height of 5, 200 metres, has witnessed a lot of graffiti and doodles. "We will separately set up tablets for graffiti to meet the tourists' demand," Gu said.

National authorities are also planning to set up a number of graffiti walls in the base camp, like the graffiti zone of the Great Wall of China, so tourists can leave their impression and eventually change their habits.

The peak season to visit Everest, popularly known as Mt Qomolangma in Tibet, starts in May, when a number of tourists make trips to experience the scenic beauty of the region. In 2015 alone, over 40, 000 people visited the base camp, where an average of 550 trips were made every day.