Environmental Impact of Tourism A case study of Pakistan

Environmental Impact of Tourism
A case study of Pakistan

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4
2.0 Tourism Factors contributing to Environmental degradation...............................................5
3.0 Case Study of Pakistan......................................................................................................................6
3.1 Tourism in Gilgit Baltistan:.............................................................................................................6
3.2 Tourism in Abbottabad:....................................................................................................................6
4.0 Methodology........................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Sample Size..........................................................................................................................................7
4.3 Data Analysis.......................................................................................................................................7
5.0 Results....................................................................................................................................................7
5.1 Tourism increased the construction of hotels.............................................................................7
5.2 Contamination of Water....................................................................................................................8
5.3 Noise Pollution....................................................................................................................................8
5.4 Hunting – as an intent for choosing Pakistan as a hunting destination..............................8
5.5 Waste production................................................................................................................................8
6.0 Discussion:............................................................................................................................................8
7.0 Conclusion:........................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................................11

Abstract
Tourism industry contributes considerably to the economic development of a country
(Kapur, 2011). The importance of tourism has also been increased due to media exposure.
Further, tourism has also contributed for heritage development, socio-economic
advancement and economic stability of nation (Kamran & Omran, 2018). Though there
are many benefits of tourism in overall progress of the country, there are many negative
impacts too. The negative impact of tourism is seen in advanced stages, hence the
country needs to amend and implement polices in the initial stages of tourism
development (Ghobadi & Verdian, 2016). This research paper has focused on
environmental impact of tourism development in Pakistan. Pakistan has a giant potential
in terms of tourism due to it’s the beauty of the northern areas including the Korakurram
range where the K2 resides. Each year more than 5 Million visitors come to experience
the beautiful sceneries and the rich culture. The arrival of such a huge number of visitors
has put adverse effect on the environment (Israr et al., 2009). The connection between
tourism and environment is though complicated but the analysis of the impact is
important since Pakistan is in initial phase of tourism development. The paper has focus
on two study areas – Gilgit Baltistan and Abbottabad with qualitative analysis under
which the local people, visitors and government officials were taken as the sample.
Thematic analysis of the data has helped produce analysis of the results. The research
proves that the tourism has contaminated the water resources, deforestation due to
construction of hotels in the region, noise pollution, waste production and extinction of
the rare species in Gilgit Baltistan and Pakistan.

1.0 Introduction
Tourism sector is one of the most economically productive sectors contributing to the
growth of national GDP of a country. While on one hand the impact of tourism is many
folds, right there on the other hand, there are many consequences of tourism too. The
consequences of tourism is divided into three frames; economical, social and
environmental (Kamran, 2018). Out of all the sectors, the most adversely affected is the
environment. Environment is the conditions and circumstances in which humans; plants
and animals live (Eminer, 2014). In the tourism industry, careful planning and execution
is needed in order to make sure that the environment is not affected. The environmental
impact of tourism is observed differently in urban and rural areas (Kamran, 2018). Rural
areas are full of greenery, natural habitation and natural beauty – saved from external
forces since centuries. Hence, rural areas are the most effected by tourism as it affects the
distinctiveness of the location (Ghobadi, 2016). The effect is not limited to the natural
habitat but to the extinction of fauna and flora too (Belsoy et al., 2012). In urban areas,
the tourism impacts the production of excessive CO2 and greenhouse effect.
Most of the previous researches have focused on the economical impact of tourism as
researchers believed tourism to be an economy drifting factor, ignoring the adverse
environmental impact that it brings along. On economical impact, there are more benefits
of tourism as compared to the disadvantages as tourism can increase the spending power
of the foreigners into the local lands (Yehia, 2019). Tourism has been increasing on
hourly basis globally. Looking at the previous statistics show that between 1940-1970,
the number of international tourists globally was around 25 million that has increase to
1.5 Billion visitors in 2019 (Statista Research Department, 2020). Though nations have
been taking the full advantage of tourism to increase the national GDP and country’s
brand image but less importance to the environmental impact that it is producing. A
country cannot achieve sustainability until it fulfills the criteria of economic as well as
environmental sustainability (Shah, 2008).
Countries mainly relying on tourism are those whose industrial development is not
enough to take up the burden of the country’s running cost (Sioltsidis, 1996). Countries
such as Malaysia and Maldives are few examples where there is not much industrial
development and the sole core of development lies on the shoulder of tourism. However,
both of these countries has achieved environmental sustainability by implementing
National laws related to achieving eco-tourism practices (Kiper, 2013).
2.0 Tourism Factors contributing to Environmental degradation
The environmental impact of tourism is many folds including overuse of the natural
resources. The sole core of the adverse impact of tourism lies on the shoulders of the
government whose unplanned strategies lead to the adverse environmental impact of
tourism (Khan et al., 2020).
Discussing the impact of tourism on environment is vast study and can be broadly
categorized. The first one being the impact on global and local level. The global impact