EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TOURISM IN PAKISTAN

MAIN TOURISM PRODUCTS OF PAKISTAN

Nature Culture History

& Adventure & Heritage & Archaeology

TYPES OF NATURE AND ADVENTURE TOURISM PRODUCTS

Mountaineering, Trekking, Hiking and Skiing Eco-tourism Trout fishing and Bird Watching Camel and Yak Safaris White Water Rafting

Wild Boar Hunting

Mountain and Desert Jeep Safaris

MAJOR EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Floods,

droughts, food shortages, health

hazards, land-slides, road blocks, damage to infrastructure (roads, highways, railways, houses, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, shops, schools, offices etc.)

RECENT PHENOMENON AFFECTING POPULAR TOURIST DESTINATIONS

Formation of Lake at Atabad (Hunza submerging 35 KM of Karakoram Highway.

Valley)

In additional to Chitral, Dir and Shangla districts, Swat Valley was the worst hit tourist destination during the flood in July 2010.

Over 100 hotels and around 400 restaurants & handicrafts shops in Swat Valley damaged due to floods.

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TOURISM ACTIVITIES

Disruption in Tourists movements

Increased melting of snow and glaciers, frequent mud and mountain slides during summer season in Kaghan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral and Kashmir blocks access roads, jeep treks and hiking trails.
The air traffic to these area faces disruption & delays. During winter, increased snow-fall movements in higher elevations. disrupts

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TOURISM ACTIVITIES

Mountaineering:

Permanent snow line which presently varies between 4500 and 5,000 metres is gradually moving upward, which exposes the mountain rock faces adding to grade of difficulty of climbing at higher altitudes. Depletion also makes the mountain slopes further instable causing more rock falls. As a result, climbing high altitude mountains has become more difficult and hazardous. Changing climate pattern has affected success rate on the high mountains.

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TOURISM ACTIVITIES

Trekking:

Forming of new crevasses and cracks, and retreating of glaciers coupled with thinning of the glacial ice disrupts trekkers movement on the glaciers. Due to moving and melting nature all glaciated areas undergo frequent changes on annual basis resulting in shifting of crevasses and cracks, and the ice thickness.

This phenomenon enhances the grade of difficulty for trekkers in the glaciated areas. Trekkers become increasingly exposed to glacial lake outbursts.

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

ON TOURISM ACTIVITIES
Skiing:

Due to lesser snow accumulation at the lower heights the snow deposit on Ski resorts of Naltar and Malam Jabba is reducing.

Skiing activities conducted near Nathiagali and Kalabagh in have also shown declining trend due to inadequate snow accumulation.

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TOURISM ACTIVITIES

Sightseeing by Road:

This type of tourism is affected due to frequent road

blocks and closures during summers. This has proven a negative factor in promoting jeep

safaris and other road bound tourism products.

Tourist activity mainly in valleys like Swat, Kaghan, Murree / Galliat and Azad Kashmir remain subjected

to increased snow melts and precipitation resulting

in frequent avalanches and mud slides. This affects the tourist movement and traffic to these areas

EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON TOURISM ACTIVITIES

Eco-Tourism

All the nature based activities like mountaineering, trekking, nature watching etc, covered under the term, are affected during summer for the reasons as explained earlier.

The habitat of local wildlife will be affected by snow shift at higher elevations and high temperatures in the plains and deserts. Due to changing weather patterns the nature and wildlife watching will also be affected.

Conclusion

Continued Climate Change is affecting abounding potentials of Pakistans nature based tourism.

Rising temperatures, especially during winter, is affecting the snow cycle in the great mountain ranges of Karakorams, Himalayas and the Hindukush resulting faster glacial melt down not only denuding the ice reservoir in these ranges but affecting its ecological balance. This will have far-reaching affect on the tourism both the high altitude adventure and road bound tourism. The Climate Change will also affect on the wild life, flora and fauna, and the eco tourism.