Sensitively planned and managed mountain tourism development has proven to reduce poverty of mountain people and increase the resilience of isolated mountain communities to climate change and other drivers of change. There is a vast potential for tourism to further enrich the developmental processes in the Himalaya, a vast region extending 3,500 km across northern South Asia and home to over 150 million people, with an enormous (relatively untapped) tourism potential.

This workshop will focus on the development of Himalaya Trails (HITs) – a network of interlinked Himalaya trails of specific historic, cultural or touristic significance that aim to divert visitors to lesser visited rural mountain areas as a tool for poverty reduction and development in poorer mountain districts. An important backbone of this network is the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT), an iconic new trail that is currently being developed in Nepal, with active support from the government and development partners, and with a clear potential to extend into other Himalaya countries.

ICIMOD, SNV Netherlands Development Organization and Eco Himal, in collaboration with in collaboration with University of Salzburg and Eurasia Pacific Uninet, will bring together different stakeholders to discuss the status and progress of the different HIT initiatives. Case studies on long distance trail development initiatives in Nepal, Europe and beyond, aim to inspire concepts and approaches that may be useful for the development of a coordinated programme to link iconic Himalaya Trails across the region, and focus on making them more pro-poor, inclusive and sustainable, so that they can be transformed in a regionally significant catalyst for uniting issues of cultural heritage, market development, local economic activity and development project work.

This workshop aims to provide a first step in forming a HIT regional network and explore interest in further collaboration on the development of a coordinated regional HIT programme. The workshop will be held in the ICIMOD headquarter, with key tourism stakeholders from Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan.

Objectives

1. To increase regional awareness of the HIT concept, and initiatives undertaken so far.
2. To update/improve the knowledge base of approaches to mountain trail development and their contributions to development.
3. To identify interest in regional collaboration and next steps.

Workshop Schedule

Organizers: ICIMOD, SNV Netherlands Development Organization, Eco-Himal

With support from: Eurasia-Pacific Uninet, University of Salzburg