Ninth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

Nepal, being a mountainous country is a popular destination among adventure tourists, especially trekkers. The country where approximately 17% land is above 3000 metres above sea level, is home to many mountains including 8 mountains above 8000 metres. Further, the mid hills cover the largest section of the country which itself is a perfect destination for trekking tourism. Rozycki and Dryglas (2014) opine that trekking is done in unexplored region where flow of visitors is usually low. This might be the reason trekking tourism became source of livelihood in rural areas of Annapurna, Everest and Langtang. Different places of Annapurna conservation area have been popular trekking sites. It seems obvious that trekking tourists do not prefer the places which can be accessed by vehicles. However, after decentralization and local level election, there has been whim in construction of roads in different places irrespective of its feasibility study and impact projections. Many popular trekking destinations have been victims of such practices. Recently, roads were constructed in Ghorepani and Ghandruk which are famous short trekking destinations/ stop over of Annapurna region. It is found that roads increase ease in accessibility which adds value to a destination, however, on a long run it might affect tea houses/ lodges and other communities of trekking destinations as people tend to visit for a very short while. The case study attempts to diagnose the impacts roads have brought in the trekking tourism.