Tourism is of central importance to the Nepalese economy. Besides hydropower, it is regarded as having the greatest potential for income generation to support national as well as local development initiatives. Nepal has few development alternatives and so it is vital that tourism is not exploited to the extent that the industry’s potential is threatened. Research by the International Centre for Protected Landscapes (ICPL) at the University of Wales examines the changing nature of tourism in the Sagarmatha National Park and the wider Solu-Khumbu District. It evaluates the impact of ecotourism and recommends strategies to promote developmental sustainability.

Since the advent of tourism, it has become clear that most tourist activity outside Kathmandu Valley is concentrated on the country’s network of national parks and protected areas. Given the significance of these areas to Biodiversity conservation and global development, it is in both national and global interest for Nepal to develop methods of tourism that preserve and enhance these critical resources. The challenge is to ensure that Nepal’s key tourist destinations – including the Sagarmatha National Park and the surrounding Solu-Khumbu District – are developed in a self-sustaining manner, whilst simultaneously generating revenue for wider needs of the country.

In 1993 ICPL began examining the impacts of trekking and mountaineering in the Solu-Khumbu District including the national park. The area has in recent years experienced significant environmental, social and economic change due to tourism activities. The project was distinctive in addressing key issues of ecotourism and sustainable development through monitoring changing conditions over a five-year period.

Key findings of the report include:

• Tourism has a positive impact on market-led business activities by helping to drive the development potential of the Solu-Khumbu District.
• Negative impacts associated with tourism include the cutting of juniper trees at high altitude and insufficient sanitation at high usage sites.
• Negative impacts are gradually undermining the quality of tourism and threaten the resource base upon which it depends.
• Current levels of planning and management of tourism and conservation are insufficient to meet the requirements of a sustainable tourism economy.
• Institutional structures that plan and manage tourism, conservation and development lack support.

Policy recommendations suggest that:

• sustainable ecotourism should be planned, promoted and more strictly managed than conventional tourism activities
• the promotion of sustainable tourism hinges upon strengthening institutional capacity by for example, involving and empowering community groups, building on partnership agreements, developing partnership agreements as well as collaborative management strategies
• there is a need to invest in new infrastructure and work towards the production of a new ecotourism strategy for the region
• technical, financial and collaborative support are required from international NGOs and development assistance agencies.

Source(s):
'The Process of Tourism Development and Change in Nepal’s Solu-Khumbu District' Research Report submitted to the (UK) Department for International Development, December 1998 by P. Rogers, J. Aitchison, and B. Lucas
'Towards Sustainable Tourism in the Everest Region of Nepal', World Conservation Union (Nepal) by Paul Rogers and John Aitchison (1998)

Funded by: ESCOR, Department for International Development (UK)

id21 Research Highlight: 3 August 2000

Further Information:
John Aitchison
International Centre for Protected Landscapes (ICPL)
Unit 8E
Science Park
University of Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth SY23 3AH
Wales

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622620
Fax: +44 (0)1970 622619
Contact the contributor: jwa@aber.ac.uk

University of Aberystwyth

Other related links:
Search Eldis for sources on biodiversity and conservation