1.

1Economic impact on Pokhara, Ghandruk, Bandipur

Tourism is recognized as one of ‘the largest industrial complexes and items of
consumption in modern western economies. The magical change in technology, transportation,
and communication in the latter half of the twentieth century led to enormous expansion of
tourism, primarily in the advanced industrialized countries. Presently, tourism has become a part
of lifestyle. It has been proclaimed that in the Middle Ages, people were tourists because of their
religion, whereas now they are tourists because tourism is their religion. In fact, a human being,
by nature cannot confine himself/herself and therefore relinquishes his/her habit of travelling to
satisfy his/her temptation of tasting different exotic societies. The congregation of the crucial
factors such as increased real personal income, technological improvements and increase in
leisure time, education, fall in international air fares, improvement in communications and so
forth, obviously espoused the growth of travel and tourism . However, there has been
considerable discussion about the role of tourism as 'a force for economic change both in
developed as well as developing countries, 'the success of tourism in restructuring the mature
economies and a consensus as to tourism's ‘catalyst role in the process of economic development
in developing countries.

For the measurement of economic effects of tourism development in national perspective, GDP
at current price has been considered one of the development indices. In case of independent
variables, along with tourism earning, total tourist arrival and the income generated by trade,
hotels and restaurants have also been introduced to evaluate the impact. Today all large cities
have elaborate economic development programmers, and many list tourism as one of their most
important economic sectors. Along with business, services and technology, tourism is considered
a significant contributor to a city's prosperity and image. The degree of reliance of a local
economy on tourism does have a statistically significant impact on the level of capital outlays,
transportation, police protection, fire protection, parks and recreation, financial administration,
and general government administration expenditures The economic activities associated with
tourism improve the quality of life. As such, much of the analysis of this industry has focused on
the positive impact of employment, income, tax revenue and economic growth and development
generally. Tourism is not an isolated industry in and of it, but is a bundle of complementary
services. Broadly defines a tourist as any visitor in a community who comes to spend money and
consumes local services. So, the travel and tourism industry represents a major segment of the
national economy and is a significant economic sector in many state and local economies. Once
confined to a small number of tourist attractions and few hotels and tour operators, tourism has
become a major economic force, demanding the attention of political and economic elites as well
as the economic development community that serves them . The economic effect of tourism is
created when purchases made by visitors infuse new dollars into the economy through the sale of
goods and services, which induce new employment opportunities, and broaden the local tax base
variable in terms of tourists' flow,
 The Economic impact of tourism in Pokhara 95 Tourism in Pokhara: Issues, Trends and Future
Prospects for Peace and Prosperity earning of foreign exchange from tourists and share of trade,
hotels and restaurants having its role in the economic development of Himachal Pradesh,
whereas economic development as a whole is treated as a dependent variable based on the
indices of per capita income, state domestic product and tax revenue along with total revenue.
Concerning the role of income from tourism for the growth of gross domestic product of the
country, it is expected that the investment by public as well as the private sector along with the
implementation of foreign projects in a variety of sectors that produce goods and services. In
fact, some significant portion of tourism earning in conformity with foreign capital is invested. It
is expected that tourism earning will have a strong association with gross domestic product.
Since economic impact is often measured on GDP.

So whether it’s total growth rates or the per capita income, the objective of this exercise is to
examine how far tourism earning is a contributory factor. However, this may also only partially
explain the relationship. Nepal is blessed with an incredible diversity of natural beauty and a
consequent grandness of incomparable and prosperous cultural heritage. The exquisite
architecture and artistic embellishment of the Nepalese pagodas that enshrine the bronze and
stone images of great beauty and, more often than not, treat antiquity, constitute a unique feature
of Nepal. The temples and stupas are rich repositories of woodcarving, metal work, terracotta
and stone sculpture (Nepal Embassy Switzerland Geneva 2010).

Nepal is an exotic and peerless destination which abuts highest mountains in the world, trek in
the scenic countryside with the icy top or jungle safari, unbeatable combination of natural beauty
and cultural riches, the virgin tracks, and white-water rafting that might be an experience of a
lifetime. The forests of rhododendron, isolated small mountain villages, birds, animals, temples,
monasteries and breathtaking landscapes, and friendly people of different cultures offer
fascinating glimpses of traditions.

Consequently, most governments in Nepal have been unsuccessful to provide basic needs to the
excluded and the marginal class. Still the economy could not reach to a take-off stage and lag
behind even to set up the preconditions for economic development.In this context, tourism could
be thought as a blessing to some cities and remote areas but more attractive places of Nepal. In
fact, as culture for India, sun-sand and sea for SriLanka, the composite form of culture,adventure
and pleasure tourism (CAPT) may be the tourism booster inNepal. Therefore, for efficient
implementing the commitment let the talkbe translated into action.
Because of diverse natural scenery, spectacular snow capped mountains, beautiful forest, hills and
wildlife, Ghandruk has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nepal. The village of
Ghandruk is also famous for its interesting culture and tradition that has also helped Ghandruk to draw a
large number of tourists. About 40,000 thousand tourists visit Ghandruk annually boosting its local
economy.

After sometime, individual trekkers also began to come in to Ghandruk, The Sherpas and guides
encouraged Ghandruk people to open guest houses and taught them on how to cook foods for
foreigners. The first hotel entrepreneur, Sankar Man Gurung, a teacher of Ghandruk School first
opened Annapurna lodge in 1976 and started tourism business with ten beds. As the flow of
tourist increased, Tek Bahadur Gurung the former village chairman of Ghandruk opened
Himalaya Lodge and he too started his business with fifteen beds. They soon became successful
and expanded the capacity of their hotels as well as imported the quality of service rendering to
the tourists which later became a model to other people. Due to rise in their income many
Ghandruke people were attracted in tourism business than in their traditional occupation of
farming and joining the Gurkhas.

As the number of tourists increased every year, large number of lodges, hotels, campsites and
teashops were built in and around the Ghandruk in order to meet the growing needs of tourists
for fooding and accommodation. There are now fifteen well equipped hotels including several
tea houses and campsites in Ghandruk. Similarly construction of new lodges and teahouses
rapidly increased in Chhomrong , Tada Pani, Banthati, Deurali and along the route to Annapurna
Base camp within a walking distance of an hour.

However, most of the lodges, in this area lacked basic facilities required by tourists, such as food
hygiene, sanitation, functional toilet, bathroom, language and security, ventilation etc. Due to
growing number of lodges, there was a strong competition among them for prices of foods and
accommodation, to draw the more tourists in to their lodges, prices were unfair, each lodge had
their own price list and all the money they earned whole year from tourism spent on food items
imported from Pokhara and renovation of their lodges every year that made them unable to raise
their quality of their service. Which neither benefited the hoteliers nor the tourist.

Due to lack of awareness and management, the development of lodges and tea houses in
Ghandruk caused serious environmental destruction; a large hectare of forest land was cleared to
fulfill the tourist demand for firewood and timber for heating and cooking purposes. Because of
deforestation and illegal hunting, number of wild animals in this area had been decreasing at an
alarming rate and cultural depletion was another major problem of Ghandruk caused by the
negative impact of tourism and its influence was directly seen among young people of
Ghandruk., they abandoned the tradition of wearing local Gurung dress like Bhoto, Kacchad,
Bhandgra, choli, sari, tikis, and Ghalek. They adopted foreign culture and dressed in modern
clothes, English and Nepalese pop songs and dances became popular and the traditional Sorathi
dance, Rodhi, and Chyagi programmes were completely disappeared from Ghandruk.The flow of
tourists in village caused problem of rubbish like toilet paper, tin, bottles and plastic were
commonly found along the trekking trails and campsites that made environment of Ghandruk
more polluted.
Because of worsening situation of Ghandruk, an ecologically sustainable tourism was introduced
in Ghandruk in 1986 with joint effort of Annapurna Conservation Area Project and people of
Ghandruk with an aim to protect nature and improve the local standards of living through the
well managed tourism development. In order to reduce consumption of firewood, the firewood
saving water heater and biogas were developed in Ghandruk and installed at the lodges of
Ghandruk, Tadapani and Chhomrong for heating and cooking purpose. The back boiler water
heating system replaced the traditional way of cooking and heating system which heats water as
well as cooking foods at same time and that save time and firewood.

Similarly lodge management committee was formed. Ghandruk and Chhomrong that set the
prices of food and accommodation for the tourists as elevation, the committee maintained similar
price list and imposed at the lodges of Ghandruk, Tadapani, Chhomrong and Annapurna
sanctuary from which lodge owners can take maximum benefit and that helps to raise their living
standards. The committee made rule and regulations for the lodge owners of tourists such as
clean and functional toilet, construction of separate rubbish pits for biodegradable and non
biodegradable garbage, clean and tidy bed room with ventilation, clean drinking water and
effective system, the lodge owners are penalized who violate committee’s rule and regulation
and the penalty is collected in committee’s fund. The Annapurna Conservation Area Project and
hotel managemet committee of Ghandruk conducted a week long training programmes to the
lodge owners on food hygiene, sanitation, food prevention, housekeeping, service and language,
security and environmental conservation.

At the request of lodge management committee, the Annapurna area project provided a loan of
Rs 10,000 thousand rupees to each lodge to improve the quality of their hotels. As a part of
public awareness program, at the end of every project, the lodge management committees
conduct cleanup campaign program in the Annapurna Sanctuary area and along the trekking
route between Ghandruk and Ghorepani, all the lodge owners of Ghandruk, Chomrong, Tadapani
and Annapurna Sanctuary. ACAP staffs including some foreigners and students of Ghandruk
high school participated in this program. They collect the garbage like tin, toilet paper, bottles
and plastic left by tourists and disposed of them.In order to achieve the goal for ecologically
sustainable tourism development, The ACAP and lodge management of Ghandruk encouraged
lodge owners to use the food items which are locally produced in Ghandruk rather than those
imported from Pokhara. This scheme has been beneficial to large number of farmers who can
produce and sell vegetable, milk, ghee, rice, potatoes and chicken to lodge owners and make
money. Except hotel business, the lodge management committee of Ghandruk in an income
generating activities like production of local crafts which is made from wood and bamboo carpet
and woolen blanket poultry farming and vegetable production to get more and more benefits
from tourists.
Bandipur is a hilltop settlement in Tanahu District, (Gandaki Zone) of Nepal. Because of its
preserved, old time cultural atmosphere, Bandipur has increasingly been coming to the attention
of tourism. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 9952 people living in
1929 individual households.
Bandipur was established as a funnelling point of trade by Newar traders from Bhaktapur in
the Kathmandu valley after it had been conquered in 1768 by Prithvi Narayan Shah. They took
advantage of its malaria free location to develop it into an important stop along the India-Tibet
trade route. With them they brought their cultural heritage and architecture which basically has
remained unchanged to this day. The road's alignment was a blessing in disguise - while many
Newar hill towns lost their distinctiveness after joining the highway grid, Bandipur retained its
originality.  Because Bandipur's merchant class had built sturdily, their buildings have stood firm
and are used today once more to house shops, cafes and lodgings.

For the internal tourists development of course the own home land is certainly the easiest and
affordable tourist destination for Nepalese. Easiest in the sense that Nepali language is widely
spoken throughout the country but cultures are different in many societies. if we go there
majority arrivals statistics in model tourist villages ,we found majority of visitors are Nepali
national. For instance, within eight years time 7198 tourists visited Bandipur village. Due to
positive impact of tourism that is providing employment opportunities both skilled and unskilled
person and labors intensive to the industry. Generates a supply of needed foreign exchange .helps
the people to increase in income and creates increased gross national product. A tourist helps to
develop with local products and resources and also spreads development.

Due to the tourism cause inflation and creates social problems. tourism creates results in
unbalances economic development and degrades the cultural environment . creates
misunderstanding and conflicts in the host society . They adopted foreign culture and dressed in
modern clothes, English and Nepalese pop songs and dances became popular. Bandipur caused
serious environmental destruction; a large hectare of forest land was cleared to fulfill the tourist
demand for firewood and timber for heating and cooking purposes. Because of deforestation and
illegal hunting, number of wild animals in this area had been decreasing at an alarming rate and
cultural depletion was another major problem of Bandipur caused by the negative impact of
tourism and its influence was directly seen among young people of bandipur.
1.2 Social-cultural impact of tourism in pokhara, Ghandruk,
Bandipur
Nature and life puzzled many philosophers for thousands of years and they ultimately realized
that human life must have emanated from the supernatural power. When a mid-nineteenth
century natural scientist, Charles Darwin, propounded his theory of evolution in his famous work
The Origin of Species (in 1859), the paradigm of thought about the origin of species shifted away
from conventional notion to evolutionary theory. He expounded the theory that neither the
intelligent nor the strongest, but only the fittest can survive. He claimed that transformation was
essential for the continuity of life. He established transformation as a pervasive force for both
living and non-living phenomena. Later on, Herbert Spencer, a social Darwinist (Dickens 2000),
linked it with society and politics with the assumptions that conflict between groups in society
leads to social progress as superior groups outwit inferior ones. This notion advocates that the
strongest or fittest should survive, but weak and unfit ultimately move away from the circle of
life. Eventually, Social Darwinists began to claim that the rich and powerful cultures have right
to survive. In the same context of argument, Rao (2002) writes that every society and culture, no
matter how traditional and conservative, is constantly undergoing change and ultimately society
changes in ceaseless flux. For Rao, society cannot be a static hypothesis. Similarly, Hunt and
Colander (2012) advocate that cultural diffusion and assimilation are major attributes of modern
society and thus a major portion of any contemporary culture today has been derived from other
cultures.

The objective of this study is to explore, differentiate, analyze and synthesize the impacts and
implications of tourism development over the socio-cultural domains of host communities with
special reference. Pre-tested questionnaires are used to collect the primary information. There is
a significant role of personal observation as well as individual conversation with local people,
stakeholders and non-entrepreneurs. Tourism acts as an agent (Madleod 2009) to induce socio-
cultural values and norms of a society into dynamism, which begets ranges of change and
modification in society and culture. Tourism, a smoke-less industry, is a global social event
Society is a web of social relationships. Culture is a complex set of learned beliefs, customs,
skills, habits, traditions and knowledge shared by members of the society.

Some impacts of tourism over the host society appear relatively quickly while others tend to
manifest slowly and gradually. If change occurs very rapidly, it may create new problems with
periodic chaos and crises that give people a sense of uncertainty and insecurity for which people
are unprepared. This might be the case of host-guest conflict. The socio-cultural impacts of
tourism are numerous and varied. Due to this reason, sustainability has become a buzzword in
tourism academia now. The main remit of sustainable tourism is to strike balance between the
host, the guest and the environment.
The “FIDELL TALCADS” model for impact assessment
This chapter, altogether thirteen variables having socio-cultural domain were selected for impact
assessment and analysis. The “FIDELL TALCADS” model, acronym important variables of this
study, was devised and tested here. The variables are

 Family structure / social composition

 Indigenous profession
 Dining pattern
 Emotion , attitude and behavior
 Lifestyle and fashion
 Traditions, norms and values
 Art, crafts and music
 Languages
 Alcoholism and smoking