Tourism in Manali: a Quest for Sustainability Evaluating 2005 Tourism Policy of Himachal Pradesh

Tourism a coveted industry world over has found a niche in developing countries where economies are growing and there is dire need to have foreign receipts to keep them growing. But this industry becomes necessity in Mountainous areas where scarcity of resources make them vulnerable to economic hardships. Since nature is bountiful tourism becomes way of life for the locals and governments weave policies to benefit economic sustainability often at the cost of environment. Though policies are formulated to safeguard environmental interests but in reality it is the economy that is paramount in policy documents. And tall claims of conservation and preservation of environment are left in dark and quest for sustainability continues.