Socio-Economic Impact of Tourism at boudhanath Area, Kathmandu

Abstract

Tourism refers to the temporary, short-term movement of people to destinationoutside the places where they normally live and work, and their activities during thestay at these destinations. The objective of this study is to assess the employmentgeneration through tourism at Boudhanath area. The specific objectives are toexamine the tourism status in the study area and to analyze the socio-economicimpacts of tourism in Boudhanath area. This study is based on descriptive as well asexplorative research designs. This study is based on primary as well as secondarysources of data. The secondary data was collected from tourism related institutions.45 samples have been selected from different tourism related employers andorganizations through purposive sampling method. The growth of tourism in Boudhanath area can be witnessed by increasing numbers oftourist arrivals and gaining of its popularity among outsiders for its typical culturalheritage. Boudhanath Stupa (or BodnathStupa) is the largest stupa in Nepal and theholiest Tibetan Buddhist temple, outside the Tibet. It is the center of Tibetan cultureinKathmanduand rich in Buddhist symbolism. Tourism sector is not only a majorsource of earning foreign currency but its contribution to create employmentopportunities is also important. For this, Nepal disposes excellent circumstances forthe development of active international tourism, including holiday pleasure, trekking,mountaineering, rafting, religion, official, sport tourism and so on. Income frominternational tourism plays a vital role in the national economy of the country. According to the local people, all the people of Boudhanath area engaged in tourism.Generally local people of Boudhanath area were engaged in tourism business likehotel, café, souvenir shop, curio shop etc. They do these businesses for selfemployment with the purpose of earning money. This study has been focused onimpacts of tourism in Boudhanath area. Although this area is rich in its culturalheritage, there is lack of parking facility, water supply and repairing and maintenanceof historical monuments, well-managed public toilets, dust bins, restaurants andlodges with modern facilities, recreational facilities etc. These are essential for thetourist and tourism business