Local Community Perceptions of Sustainable Tourism Development: Evidence from Kalam Valley, Swat, Pakistan

Abstract

This paper discusses the views of the local population to sustainable tourism development in Kalam Valley, Swat, Pakistan. Sustainable tourism has been widely considered as a way of ensuring economic growth is balanced with environmental conservation and cultural preservation but its development is largely reliant on the involvement and participation of local locals. Although Kalam has a lot of natural and cultural attractions, there is not much information about how the community perceives the sustainability agenda in Kalam. To fill this gap, primary data was collected via a structured questionnaire which was given to 75 local respondents using a simple random sampling technique. The survey took the Likert scale with 20 items touching upon four major dimensions, namely: sustainability, environment, socio-economic benefits and cultural heritage. The SPSS 20.1 was used to analyze data to determine trends and patterns in community perceptions. Results indicate that the older residents were more concerned about sustainability as compared to young respondents and that most local business owners were not willing to adopt sustainable practices. In addition, the respondents pointed out lack of participation of local government in implementation of sustainable tourism policies. Nevertheless, the community recognized that sustainable tourism had the potential of providing economic opportunities, cultural pride and environmental conservation in case it is managed well. The paper concludes that sustainable community participation, education, and collaborative governance of the valley may transform the Kalam Valley into a model of the sustainable tourism in Pakistan.