Year: 2026 | Month: May | Volume: 13 | Issue: 5 | Pages: 218-227
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260518
Building Sustainable Tourism in Disaster Affected Regions: A Case Study of the Uttarakhand Himalayas
Priya Bora1, Dr. Manoj Kumar Pandey2
1Assistant Professor, School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Uttarakhand Open University, Haldwani (Nainital), India.
2Assistant Professor, School of Tourism and Hotel Management, Uttarakhand Open University, Haldwani (Nainital), India.
Corresponding Author: Priya Bora
ABSTRACT
The Uttarakhand Himalayas, a seismically active segment of the Indian Himalayan Region, attract large numbers of tourists and pilgrims despite recurring hazards such as landslides, flash floods, earthquakes, and cloudbursts, which repeatedly disrupt infrastructure, livelihoods, and visitor flows. Rapid, often unplanned tourism development, slope modification, and ecological stress have intensified vulnerability, reinforcing the need to link disaster risk reduction with sustainable and resilient tourism planning in the region. The study adopts a descriptive and analytical research design with a mixed-methods approach to examine the intersection of tourism, disasters, and sustainability in the Kumaon Himalaya of Uttarakhand. Primary data were collected through a structured survey tool comprising 15 closed- and open-ended questions administered to 67 tourism stakeholders, including hoteliers, homestay operators, tour operators, and community representatives. Secondary data were sourced from government reports, census statistics, and peer-reviewed literature. Findings indicate a critical gap in disaster preparedness, with 68% of respondents rating preparedness levels of tourism enterprises as poor and only 13% considering them good. Coordination with authorities is mostly moderate (54%), yet a quarter of respondents perceive it as weak or absent, and 79% report a sharp decline in tourist arrivals following disaster events, alongside 72% experiencing severe impacts on income and employment. Furthermore, 74% of respondents consider existing government policies ineffective in ensuring tourism safety and continuity, highlighting institutional and regulatory shortcomings in hazard‑prone areas.
Keywords: Himalayan Region, Resilience, Tourism, Disaster, Sustainable, Uttarakhand
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