Pokhara, Nepal

Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of natural beauty, bio-diversity, cultural multiplicity and adventurous activity. Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, ese tourism industry thrives around them. Nature-based tourism in the spectacular milieu of cultural mosaic is the core competence of Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, ese tourism industry. But nature and culture both by their virtue are very fragile and cannot remain in isolation from tourism. The above analysis shows that tourist cultures always dominate the host culture and in many cases hosts are the losers in spite of the financial leverage they get. Coming very close to the Social Darwinists and Neo-Marxists, the analysis has shown that tourism is a strong agent of socio-cultural diffusion, infusion, acculturation and assimilation with an anthology of a complex synthesis of various interconnected socio-cultural, environmental and economic influences, though tourism primarily turns up as an economic enterprise.

Further, socio-cultural influences and implications are not always apparent as economic impacts. Such impacts are indirect, qualitative and perceptual. Therefore, they are hard to identify, difficult to measure and depend on value orientation. They are also ambiguous. Same impacts seen beneficial by some groups are perceived as having negative aspects by other stakeholders. Thus, we can come to the conclusion that the impacts and implications of tourism on host society are more latent, slow but penetrating and lasting; and the impact individually appears to be almost insignificant, but together they vibrate and weaken socio-cultural system and superstructure.

It  is  revealed that  tourism  in  many cases appears  as  an  exploitative envoy, rather than economic panacea, from various perspectives till the destination remains ‘pleasure periphery’ of the developed world and the traveler becomes a tourist not a ‘social activist.’ Therefore, the proposition which might be appropriate for tourism development in developing destination like Pokhara is the Community Based Responsible Tourism (CBRT) to have a balance among tourism growth, ecological conservation, economic prosperity and socio-cultural sustainability.