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Community-based mountain tourism in Pakistan

09.09.2016

The Mountain Area Support Organization (MASO) organized a session for the youth of Gojal, Pakistan on the topic “Role of community-based tourism in socio-economic development”. The session was held at MASO’s office hall in Gulmit Gojal. Educated youth, especially girls, from various villages in the Gojal Hunza Valley attended. Didar Ali, a graduate in tourism management and founder of Mountains & People, was the keynote speaker. He discussed the idea of community-based tourism in great detail and encouraged the youth to play their part in socio-economic development through small ventures. He further discussed how the influx of domestic tourism is contributing to the social economy, which is turning into a source of livelihoods for many households.

Ali continued to discuss the downside of the tourism influx in the region, which has been damaging to the area’s fragile mountain eco-systems. It has also created excess garbage from items domestic tourists bring and leave behind irresponsibly. This has been of great concern for the local communities of high mountain areas where there is not a proper system in place to manage the waste. The local administration seems absent in addressing the growing concern of the local communities regarding pollution and garbage dumps.

During the group-work portion of the session, the youth prepared charts with wakeful messages for travelers. They also designed leaflets and posters where they tried to define Do’s and Don’ts for the travelers.

Lumbaradar Sultan Ayub, MASO Chairman Qadir and Vice-Chairman Ameer Hayat expressed their views on the importance of community-based tourism and its role in the development of tourist destination economies. They further advised the youth to play their role in promoting eco-tourism through community involvement.

This event was supported by the Aga Rural Support Program (AKRSP) Gilgit, with the aim to sensitize mountain communities to the issues discussed.

News and photo by Mountains & People  

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