Date of Graduation

Fall 2020

Degree

Master of Science in Geospatial Sciences

Department

Geography, Geology, and Planning

Committee Chair

David Perkins

Abstract

This research explores Nepal's overtourism scenario based on the capacity of a locality to manage sustainable tourism practices. Environmental degradation, local infrastructure degradation, negative tourist experience and local resident responses regarding visitors are the four main variables used in this study to analyze overtourism. In order to analyze the case study of overtourism, we select the three top touristic cities of Nepal, Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Chitwan based on the number of annual visitors. Nepal's case analysis of overtourism conditions reviews the overall threat of over-tourism and establishes a metric by which tourism can be viewed as potentially detrimental to sustainability. Thamel a small city that lies in Kathmandu's heart, met almost all the variables associated with the overtourism. In this location we saw an increase in resident issues due to soaring rents, apartment shortages, and the price increases for daily basic needs. Likewise, Pokhara and Chitwan also show limited aspects of overtourism. Tourism acts as a vital part of the economy for many of the countries in the world. It brings in foreign currency, improves economic conditions, and perpetuates the sharing of language, tradition, and culture between communities. The second study of this thesis explores the relationships between tourism and social and environmental vulnerability elements by creating a tourism opportunity index of the individual district based on the available amenities. The tourism opportunity index (TOIN) is accessed by analyzing a climate index, socioeconomic variables, infrastructure, and the destination's overtourism condition. Moreover, this research purposes a new way to determine the region's tourism opportunity, analyzing the climate and all the sustainable tourism development variables. A climatic index is analyzed using the synoptic meteorological data (GWTC) condition throughout Nepal with 30 years of data. Among all the districts, Kathmandu has a high TOIN score despite showing the overtourism symptoms because of its development and restoration of resources. This study and its recommendations will hopefully allow the Nepal to become a sustainable tourism destination by preserving its sources for a future generation by implementing the sustainable tourism development.

Keywords

Overtourism, GWTC, Tourism Opportunity Index, Climate Change, Sustainable Tourism, Nepal

Subject Categories

Applied Statistics | Atmospheric Sciences | Categorical Data Analysis | Climate | Environmental Health and Protection | Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Meteorology | Natural Resource Economics | Other Earth Sciences | Sustainability

Copyright

© Susan Phuyal

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