Environmental Impacts of Community-Based Home stay Ecotourism in Nepal

Abstract

Community-based home stay is one of the growing rural tourism enterprises. It has been a strong support for fostering ecotourism around the globe by uplift ing the local community. The present study was carried in Amaltari Madhawarti Homestay in the Nawalpur District of Nepal. The main aim of this study was to assess the environmental impacts of community-based home stay tourism. Twenty-four houses running home stays and same number of houses without home stay operation were surveyed and representative of the management committee were interviewed in this study. Solid waste production in these 24 home stays was quantified. Proper awareness towards waste management reduces the threat to environmental purity. Further, the role of proper waste management, energy use, and water use becomes a great asset to develop a sound ecotourism around home stays. Socio-economic benefits were received by the home stay in the form of increased income and preserved culture. People were able to make money to upgrade their living standard from their culture, hospitality, foods, and costumes. This boost in the economy had reduced dependence on natural resources and increased forest area and movement of wild animals.

Impact of COVID-19 in the forestry sector: A case of lowland region of Nepal

“…Before the outbreak of COVID-19, many investors were attracted to the sector with an increased number of homestays openings due to the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign of the government ( Pandey and Dhakal, 2019 ). As of 2019, nearly 320 registered homestays and many other unregistered homestays were under-functioning in the village areas of Nepal ( Dahal et al, 2020 ). In the Terai Arc Landscape alone, WWF (2020) alone has supported a total of seventeen homestays.…”

Perception of Visitors on Ecotourism Environmental impact : A Study of Munnar, Kerala, India

“…In nature-based tourism areas, several policies have been studied and introduced, such as carrying capacity (Cuong et al, 2018), visitor impact management (Dangi and Gribb, 2018), and the limits of acceptable changes (Komsary et al, 2018). Various studies highlight the importance of measuring the magnitude of the environmental impact that tourists are aware of and understand when traveling Dahal et al, 2020). Initial studies have explored visitor behaviors, desires, and expectations, in addition to research into outdoor recreation habits and satisfaction with outdoor recreation experiences.…”

“…Early research about visitor perceptions of environmental impacts was generally limited, as concluded by Lucas (1979). There is a small but growing amount of research on tourists' attitudes about environmental impacts; still, researchers face challenges due to a lack of solid research on this topic (Dahal et al, 2020;KC et al, 2020).…”

“…Tourism is one of the world's most fast-growing sectors. The tourism sector is increasingly aware of the industry's impacts leading to the implementation of alternative types of tourism and other environmentally friendly travel practices (Dahal et al, 2020). The true essence of ecotourism has positive benefits, but it also has some negative impacts on the natural environment and the fragile ecosystem when they are intensively used as tourism tools (Ardiantiono et al, 2018).…”

Statistically Validated Component- and Indicator-Level Requirements for Sustainable Thai Homestay Businesses

“…The sustainability of tourist destinations is dependent upon environmental concerns and conservation of local stakeholders [42,68]. Construction of homestay accommodations and the operation should attach importance to eco-friendliness and long-term sustainability [69].…”