Misanthropy of GB tourism
TOURISM means the movement of people, outside their usual environment. The tourism industry in Pakistan has huge potential to contribute in the growth of the economy. There are many types of tourism, however in Pakistan there are four main types of tourism, historical, religious, ecotourism and adventure which can attract a huge number of tourists. According to the World Bank, in 2022 Pakistan’s tourism receipts were about USD 765 million. In Pakistan, Gilgit-Baltistan has become the capital of tourism due its majestic mountains, spectacular natural sceneries, high waterfalls, historical buildings and eye-catching lakes. According to the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan more than two million tourists visited Gilgit-Baltistan in 2022.
With the flourishing of tourism sector in Gilgit-Baltistan, it is also producing tragedy of common pool problem as the cultural, socio-economics, and environmental patterns of GB are depleting at a large-scale. Due to increase in influx of tourists in Gilgit-Baltistan, it has opened more job opportunities for the local community in the form of tour guide, running hotels, rest houses and travel agencies which enhance the living standards of people.
According to study of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) about 50% of families in Gilgit Baltistan are directly or indirectly depend upon tourism for their livelihood. This can be considered a good sign because people move towards self-employment. This is the positive side of tourism in Gilgit-Baltistan but there are dark sides also, due to increase in tourist influx, environmental degradation also occurred, the flood in 2022 is particular example of environmental degradation. Besides this, in many others ways tourists continues to degrade the natural environment of Gilgit-Baltistan. At every tourist points, bins are installed to dispose garbage, but most tourists don’t properly dispose of the garbage and we can find rubbish at every tourist spot. The congestion, noise pollution and air pollution are also increasing as most tourists use their own cars to visit Gilgit-Baltistan. In the big cities of Pakistan, we can find most roads are straight while at Gilgit-Baltistan most of roads have sharp turns and tourists drive cars at very high speeds due to which road accidents are also increased. The role of the government is not only to promote tourism, but also to formulate and implement such policies which help in sustainability of the environment. But unfortunately, the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan is busy with deforestation to create national parks which further intensified environmental degradation.
Over time construction of hotels and rest houses also increased to accommodate the heavy influx of tourists. On one side, this increased the cutting down of trees (deforestation) and on the other side there are no proper sewage systems and often sewage disposal mixes with fresh water which is used by locals for drinking, cooking and other purposes consequently waterborne diseases aggravates among the people.
Along with the environmental issues, there is a substantial impact on the socio-culture pattern of Gilgit-Baltistan. Due to increase in the number of tourists, the culture of GB has greatly affected and become hybridized culture due to spill-over effect of the tourists dressing, food, and other activities. It has been observed that due to influx of tourists, privacy of local people is also affected as many tourists enter the local houses without considering the boundaries of houses. Last year on social media trends against tourism were begun due to rise of the wall chalking at different tourist spot. Along with these problems drug addictions among the youth and harassment of the girls also prevailed because of the domestic tourists.
It is true due to tourism living standards of local people have improved but all the stakeholders, the local community and the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan should formulate SOPs which can ensure sustainable tourism and the tourists should also respect and care the SOPs, local norms and culture. As a huge number of local communities depend upon tourism for their livelihood, the Government should devise proper planning which can promote sustainable and environment-friendly tourism in all four seasons. The Almighty has blessed Gilgit-Baltistan with many natural resources such as minerals and mines, livestock, fisheries and farming, the government should also promote these sectors so people cannot rely only on tourism.
To deal with the environmental issues the local administration needs to work with the people who are involved in this business by giving them tasks to maintain cleanness and dumping of garbage besides imposing fines and taxes on tourists directly. Fines and taxes should be collected from the concerned business. If this approach is not workable then tourist police should be given the authority for the imposition of taxes and fines on those who pollute the environment. Instead of using personal vehicles, domestic tourists should travel with tourist agencies like the foreigners do which can reduce traffic congestion and air pollution as well. No doubt enjoyment is the right of the tourists but they should also care about the social norms, values, culture, and traditions of Gilgit-Baltistan.
—The writer is an MPhil Scholar (Public Policy) at Pakistan Institute of Development Economic Islamabad (PIDE)
