Carrying Capacity Assessment of Ecotourism Sites in Mid-Hills of Himachal Pradesh Sharma Apurva*, Chauhan Shalini, Bhardwaj S.K. Department of Environmental Science, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India *Corresponding author email id: sapurva11@yahoo.com
Online published on 19 August, 2020. Abstract Carrying capacity assessment of a tourism venture is essential to regulate and manage the resources in ecotourism sites. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the carrying capacity of ecotourism sites in midhill region of Himachal Pradesh based on the ecological, economic, social and physical environment. Out of the various sites developed in the mid-hill region of the state five ecotourism sites were purposefully selected for the following assessment. The stakeholders comprising local residents, visitors, entrepreneurs and tourism officials were interviewed with semi-structured questionnaires for ecotourism prospect evaluation. The primary aim of the study was to understand the effect of the ongoing ecotourism activities on the carrying capacity of these regions/sites. The carrying capacity ranged between 116 – 204 visitors per day. Among the selected sites, the highest carrying capacity was observed for Nature's Treat which was followed by Sanawar Nature Camp, Aamod, Park Woods and Pine Hills Eco-Camp with respective values of 204, 186, 154, 131 and 116 visitors per day, though, the number of tourists visiting the sites per day in actual was within the carrying capacity limits. From the study, it was also projected that, as per the current rate of tourist inflow increase in the study area, the carrying capacity of the ecotourism sites is predicted to get exhausted in the next decade on an average. The exhaustion can be attributed to limits in the environmental, social variables and the management capacities of the sites in the mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh. This exhaustion period can however be extended by adopting an environmentally friendly management strategy. Top Keywords Carrying capacity, Ecotourism, Environment, Exhaustion, Mid-hills, Resources. Top |