IMPACT OF POPULATION SURGE ON PAKISTAN'S TOURIST HOTSPOT HUNZA

Abstract

A tourist surge is a dramatic increase of tourists that arrives during certain periods, during events, and even more so as global interest peeks in a specific destination.

Hunza is one of the important tourist destinations in Pakistan and worldwide famous for its huge and diversified tourism potential, scenery, and history. This study focuses on environmental, economic, and cultural impacts of tourism in Hunza. In the recent past, there have been noticeable changes in the number of the local population and the number of tourists who visit the region. About the economic activity, one has local businesses that thrive to create employment. However, in such, it receives less effort due to straining of infrastructure and resource utilities. The sceneries that lead to the beauty of such sceneries diminish due to the growing sector of population leading to more litter, subsequently causing a chaos. From the cultural perspective, it is advisable to accommodate individuals since it expands the horizon of knowledge, thus promoting tourism, which in other instances make it worse by endangering the community whose culture gets threatened. This paper puts emphasis on the need to have sustainable practices of tourism and good managerial strategies aimed at balancing economic growth with environmental conservations and culture preservation in Hunza.

In this respect, it will reflect changes in natural resources like water and energy consumption while analyzing the challenges of waste management and levels of pollution that are merely linked to a high population and tourist numbers. The research would examine the establishment of standards for responsible tourism activities responding to challenges in Hunza and policies for intervention to achieve a fair balance between tourism development and conservation of the environment.