An Assessment of Ecotourism (A Case Study of Maipokhari Region in Ilam District, Nepal)

Abstract

Ecotourism is a recent phenomenon in the Nepalese context. So, the history of ecotourism is not very long in Nepal. In Nepal, conservation activities were started during early 1970s. The ecotourism activities started only after the inception of Chitwan National Park in 1973. Also, trekking tourism arose during the decade 1960s with the development of trekking tourism and conservation activities. In 1994, another ecotourism project KEEP was initiated in Nepal. Ilam is a beautiful hill queen of Nepal. Ilam has strong potentiality for development of ecotourism. Being the various natural resources, green forests, rivers, lakes, mountain, tea garden, forested hills and hills with tea, trekking spots, holy sites etc help to promote the ecotourism in Ilam district. So this study is attempted to examine the economic and cultural aspects of tourism and to find the relation between local people and local tourist activities in Maipokhari region, Ilam, Nepal. The investigation includes the analysis of local people’s income, tourist expenditure, satisfaction of tourist and biodiversity conservation through ecotourism. One of the juncture of the ecotourism in Ilam is the Maipokhari region which is situated in southern part of the district headquarter. It is the old heritage of Ilam district lying on the lap of greenery forest. Due to the excessive pressure of the tourist in this eco zone, this site is the crucial one in respect to proliferation of the eco-tourists. This study has dug out that the Maipokhari region is the most important place for Eco-tourism development in Ilam district. About 80 percent foreign tourists involved in eco-tourism have entertained this site as a major destination of Ilam. It was found that 84 percent local respondents viewed that eco-tourism has contributed various types of employment chances including biodiversity conservation. But nowadays the quality of biodiversity is decreasing and the waste pollution is increasing due to unmanaged solid waste. It may harm on tourism in future so government and related agencies must try to solve these problems for bright future of Maipokhari in ecotourism.