Indo-Himalayan Protected Areas: Peak-Hunters, Pilgrims and Mountain Tourism

The Himalayas are among the world’s most popular mountaineering destinations for tourism, attracting millions of hikers, trekkers and climbers. Sensitive to outside influences, the Himalayan environment of high mountain areas, until recently cut off from civilization, has been abruptly exposed to it. The Indian Himalayan sub-region welcomes over 50 million tourists annually. Becoming a popular visitor destination, more and more protected areas (PAs) in the Himalayas have been opened up to tourism. About 70% of the Himalayan mountain system is located within India. The Indian share of the range (396,405 km2) contains 34,766 km2 of PAs that account for 8.8% of the landmass. There are ongoing efforts to preserve areas characterised by rare flora and fauna, where nature protection is on a par with commercial goals, that is tourism. This chapter outlines the state of the natural environment within PAs and the trends in the changes, implications on nature-based tourism (NBT) in the Indian Himalayan PAs and its challenges. The authors also discuss the impact of tourism on local communities, and possible solutions to strengthen NBT management in mountainous PAs.