Socio-Cultural Impact’s of Tourism on Kashmir Valley with Special Reference to its Problems and Prospectus.

Abstract

Tourism is considered as the major tool of economic development throughout the globe, and economic impacts of tourism have become more and more reiterated and more noticeable in society.  On the other hand little attention is paid relatively to non-economic or socio-cultural impacts of tourism. However, it is now being accepted that tourism and its related activities need to be properly planned and managed if they are to make an ongoing contribution to sustainable socio-economic prosperity. So need of the hour is to examine whole array of impacts and not just stop at economic aspects of tourism development.  In this paper an attempt has been made to examine the socio cultural impacts of tourism on Kashmir valley. The perception of the residents regarding socio-cultural impact of tourism- positive & negative will be also taken into account.  Additionally this paper will also throw light on the problems and prospectus of tourism in Kashmir which otherwise has the great potential to boost its economy. This paper is primarily based on the secondary data. The main objective of the paper is to highlight the socio-cultural impacts of tourism in Kashmir valley and to highlight the problems and future prospectus for sustainable tourism development in Kashmir valley.