Sustainable development through tourism : conflicts between theory and practice : the case of the Annapurna region of Nepal

This research investigated the conflicts that existed between the theory and policies of tourism as a tool for sustainable development, and the reality of their implementation in the Ghorepani and Tatopani areas of Annapurna, Nepal. It studied the attitudes, values, and practices (with reference to tourism and sustainable development) of the various actors in tourism in the area, and the environmental contexts and processes at work. The current theory and policy underpinning measures to implement tourism and sustainable development in the area was examined. Conclusions were subsequently drawn about the impact of present policies and theory on sustainable development and sustainable tourism on the area. An interpretivist paradigm provided the basis for this study, with elements of a critical social science approach included. An emic approach enabled the researcher to uncover the specific understandings and actualities of stakeholders, along with the underlying environmental structures and conditions of sustainable development through tourism in the area. These factors, along with the interrelationships between them, formed the basis of a fieldwork period whereby data was gained from key stakeholders through the utilisation of a variety of interviewing and observational techniques. This study contributes further to the debate surrounding the use of tourism as a tool for sustainable development. It finds that the traditional but naïve western dualist assumptions of tourism impacts as propounded by research, policy, and management do not account for the processes in which tourism is working on and through actors and their communities in the Tatopani and Ghorepani areas of Nepal (and vice versa). It consequently finds that sustainable development, when interpreted as a western construct, can be seen to be occurring to a limited and beneficial degree in the areas, but also at a cost to the communities involved which is not being recognised