Socio-Economic and Environmental Impact of Tourism in Nepal A Case Study of Sauraha, Chitwan District

Abstract

This thesis entitled "Socio- economic and Environmental Impact of Tourism In Nepal" has been prepared and presented as the academic requirement of the master degree programme in Rural Development. Tourism has become an important sector in the economy of Nepal. It is the main source of foreign currency earning also, development of tourism sector has contributed to increase employment, income generation and to improve the balance of payment of the country. Nepal has become the attractive destination for tourist from all over the word. Sauraha is the most popular tourist destination in Nepal. It has great potentiality for the development of tourism. This study gives both positive and negative effects of tourism in society, culture, economy and environment. Sauraha has great potentialities to develop tourism. It is rich in natural beauty and cultural heritage. Boating, sight seeing, Village tour, canoeing, elephant safari, Bird watching, jungle drive are the main potential tourism at the study area which attracts the domestic as well as foreign tourists. The total number of tourists arriving Sauarha is converted into 21 percent among total tourists in 2067 to determine the tourist visiting in the study area. The number of tourist visiting from Europe is the highest among all continents, The majority of tourists arrived directly in Sauraha by tourist bus with their guide. A accommodation facilities are found to be insufficient to serve the visiting tourists demand on the peak season. Most of the tourist visiting this area for National park and wild Animal is 54 percent. The duration of tourist stay in this area ranges from 1 day to six days. Hotels are benefited by National and international tourist. It is found that most of the visitors in this area are Nepali, Indian, and then other countries. Expenditure pattern where, 46 percent tourists were spend in between of 40$ to 60$ and another 2 percent tourist were spend in between of 141$ to 160$ in per day. Tourism has brought positive impacts on economy, society and environment of Sauraha. Tourism helps to develop the infrastructure like road, electricity, water supply, health, education and communication brings changes in living of people, behavior pattern of people, dresses, life style, language and food habit are positive impact of tourism. Also, the local people of the study area have got opportunities to learn the language of the different countries. Tourism has created the various type of employment opportunities for local people. Disruption of the family and social relationship, hospitality, decline in morality and value, acculturation, drug abuse, alcoholism are negative impacts of tourism. It has also created serious environmental problems such as degradation of forest, water pollution, garbage, problem etc. However, negative impacts are not beyond control. They are manageable. They can be minimized by proper management of tourism activities and resources.