Nepalese tourism from the lens of residents: An assessment of impact perception, attitude, and action towards tourism development in Gandaki province, Nepal

Abstract

Residents’ perception, attitude, and support towards the tourism industry are the key determinants of tourism success. Therefore, understanding residents’ perceptions is critically important for the long-term sustainability of the tourism industry. However, such studies are meagre in the context of Nepalese tourism, one of the most popular nature and culture-based tourism destinations in the global tourism arena. In this study, we assessed the residents’ perception towards tourism impact, and their attitude and subsequent action towards future tourism development in three popular destinations: Pokhara, Ghandruk, and Ghorepani of Gandaki province, Nepal. Data were collected on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 7 via a questionnaire survey with 600 randomly selected local residents. The result revealed that irrespective of differences in demographic variables, all the residents showed a high level of agreement that the benefits of tourism outweigh the prevalent costs. The result also revealed that both residents’ attitude and support were significantly influenced by socio-economic impacts and thus most residents despite having few anticipated concerns showed prevalent positive attitude and strong support for tourism promotion. However, residents not directly benefited from tourism and the residents of farther distance from the core touristic regions showed reluctancy for the further promotion of tourism. Thus, it suggests that diverse group of people have no equitable access to the resources and benefits of tourism. Therefore, to maintain the long-term sustainability of tourism industry in this region, the stakeholders are required to involve diverse group of local residents not only in devising effective strategies for mitigating anticipated concerns and assuring equitable benefits to the diverse group of people but also in formulating tourism policy and in the process of tourism development. Had this approach been successful, it would be instrumental in devising sustainable tourism plans and policies for similar other destinations across the entire country.