IMPACT OF TOURISM ON NAINITAL:

CARRYING CAPACITY,
SUSTAINABILITY AND SEASONALITY ISSUES

Date of Submission: 22 June 2018

SUBMITTED TO- SUBMITTED BY-

Department of Tourism Naval Sunal & Harshit Kumar

The Hermitage, MBA 2nd Semester,

Kumaun University, Nainital The Hermitage.
ABSTRACT

Today Nainital Tourism have experienced significant growth. It has vast and unbounded
potential to enhance State & District Income and employment in the district.

The objective of this research article is to highlight the various problem arising due to rise in
the number of tourists in the Nainital city. To understand the concept secondary data and
some primary data has been used in this report.

The finding of this study help us to identify the consumer expectation and requirement that
would help to make strategies in the Tourism industry in Nainital related to growth in
sustainable tourism in Nainital and reducing the chaos of the city during the peak seasons.
Introduction
Nainital tourist district is the pride of the Kumaon region in Uttarakhand. While there are
many other places equally beautiful, Nainital is certainly the most popular tourist destination
in Kumaon. It's a pleasant hill station. For tourists looking for hustle and bustle the best time
to go is the summer months when a lot of traffic ascends from Delhi and the plains. The
town gets equally crowded during the September/ October season which coincides with the
Diwali and Puja holidays. However, like most hill resorts, it has its quite periods too. During
the winter, Nainital is quite another beautiful experience when it reverts back to the local
population andthe crowds are absent.
A lot of tourists who come to Nainital during peak seasons (May- June, December 25-
January, September- October) create serious challenges for the administration in Nainital,
some major problems occur during peak season are as: Excessive Traffic Jams on roads &
Accomodation Issues for tourists aka CARRYING CAPACITY, Lack of Proper Parking
Facilities & Reduction in Water Supply aka SUSTAINABILITY.
Strength of Nainital-

Situated at an altitude of 1938 m (6,350 ft) above sea-level, Nainital the charming hill station,
is located in the Kumaaon region of Uttarakhand State. Dotted with lakes, Nainital is said to
be the 'Lake District' of India.

Since Nainital had many number of lakes previously this was called Chakta or the city of 60
lakes. Today most of the lakes have disappeared. One of the most pleasant hill stations to
visit, Nainital was discovered by Mr Barron, a European manufacturer in 1841. This was once
the Summer Capital of Uttar Pradesh, and this lake resort has many interesting walks along
narrow wood lanes forests of oak, pine forest trails in the neighbouring woods. This
beautiful place offers many options like boat cruise at lake, water sports like Yachting,
Kayaking, Canoeing , horse riding, trekking etc.

Problems Faced By Tourists & Residents/ Seasonality Issues-

As per the latest reports published in Times of India newspaper: The district
administration and police put up banners of ‘Nainital Housefull’ and banned private
vehicles without prior booking of a parking slot from entering the town.

Many hoteliers claimed that bookings had gone down by as much as 50% after the ban was
enforced on Tuesday and banners appeared informing tourists that Nainital had no more
parking space. Tourists, meanwhile, were angry that they had reservations in hotels but
were turned away as they did not have confirmed parking. Many said that they were asked
to park at the nearest facility from the town, which is at least 7 km away, and then take a
shuttle to Nainital.

The streets of Nainital are choked with vehicles, especially during peak season which
lasts from May 1 to June 30 and sees an influx of at least 4,000 tourists per day.

Besides the main roads in the town, the approach roads, especially the NH-87 which
connects Rampur to Nainital, is often blocked and it takes sometimes more than 5-6
hours to reach Nainital from Haldwani, a distance which can usually be covered
within 1-2 hours.
The resultant traffic snarls, say residents, have forced the town's people to be virtual
prisoners in their own city. “I had to reschedule my father’s appointment with the
doctor since the huge traffic congestion prevented us from moving out of our house. I
just hope that the situation normalises soon as the situation has begun to affect our
daily lives, ” said Rohit Pandey, a resident.

Sustainability Issues & Carrying capacity issues-

Parking has remained a perennial problem in Nainital and with the influx of tourists, vehicles
are being parked in Sukhatal area. Local activist Ajay Singh Rawat said that Sukhatal area is
very important for Nainital as it recharged approximately 40% of Naini lake. He added that a
public interest litigation (PIL) is already pending in Uttarakhand high court (HC) regarding
the matter. Echoing similar sentiments, Padma Shri awardee and activist Anup Sah said that
a comprehensive plan is needed to deal with the heavy parking load. “In the absence of a
comprehensive plan, the lake town faces congestion and water crisis every year.”

In the year 2018- A 50 metres long stretch in the lower part of the Mall road collapsed due to
heavy load of vehicles on the road resulting heavy traffic on the Raj Bhawan road.

I (Naval) and Harshit met a Russian tourist LINDA in Nainital, And according to her “ she
previously came to Nainital in the year 1995, and at that time the traffic was negligible, there
were only few people used to come to Nainital, it was a peaceful hill resort at that time, but
now the number of crowd has risen a lot so the number of vehicles, there is no space left for
the nature walkers”
She clearly said that she is not visit Nainital from next time.