.1.

Introduction
Man is fully dependent on nature and there is no doubt that nature has provided
all the resources for human being as well as other organisms living on earth.
Man excavated earth surface, cut downs the trees, polluted environment and
modifying the environment according to his needs. Frontiers In Science and
Technology 18 Tourism industry which is an emerging industry has increased
economy of nations. But if tourism industry is a boon for man, it is also a bane
for nature. In present study area, tourism has severe impact on physical as well
as social environment. Most of the impacts are seen in peak seasons of tourism
i.e., May and June. Influx of tourists is more in these months. In the study area
these negative impacts are observed, air quality has been decreased due to
traffic. There is no segregation of solid waste, river and khuds are polluted with
solid waste at dumping site as well as in domestic settlements which caused
water contamination, improper management of sewage treatment plant due to
less carrying capacity than influx.
.2. Methodology The present study has included both qualitative and
quantitative research tools for gathering and analyzing the information. Data has
been collected from both primary and secondary sources
2.3. Study Area
Present study was taken in Manali town of Kullu district, which is situated at40
kilometres from Kullu, the district headquarters in the northern part of the
valley, under the Pir Panjal mountain range. The town is located between
latitude 32º24’32 N to longitude 77º18’92 E at altitude ranging about1958
meters above mean sea level. The details of the study area are:
Topography: Moderate Slope
Geographical area: 327815-08 dm2
Soil type: Alluvial and non-calcic soil types

Climatic conditions
 Temperature typically ranges from -7 degree Celsius to 24 degree Celsius
for the entire year.
 The average temperature during the summers is between 18 degree
Celsius to 22 degree Celsius and during the winters is -2 degree Celsius
to 9 degree Celsius.
Occupational structure:
  10.6% agriculture and horticulture.
 29.39% government services.
 29.65% business.
 30.90% are labours and other.

Physical environment:
a) Solid waste generation: The door-to-door waste collection has been
initiated in all the wards; however, the percentage of hotels, shops and
houses population covered under the system varies from ward to ward. x
 Average waste generation is about 14-15 MT/day. X
 During the peak tourist season (mid-April to end-September) waste
generation increases about 35-36 MT/day. This depicts that the
waste generation per capita per day:
 From houses as 400 gm/capita/day
 ¾ From hotels as 1.20 kg/capita/day
 ¾ From shops it is 3 kg/shop/day.
 ¾ Biodegradable - 8.75MT, Non- Biodegradable- 26.25MT
 ¾ MT solid waste is collected from the surrounding
panchayat (9 Nos) areas.

 Rohtang Pass: In offseason, the quantity of solid waste is

about 6 to 8 tons/day which increases up to 14-16 tons/day
during the peak tourist season.
 b) Air pollution: The data was obtained from HPPCB,
shows increasing and decreasing rate of different pollutants.
Since, June has more inflow of tourists and fruit season in
Manali starts; hence, the traffic of vehicles is more than the
other months. Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter
(RSPM) is the main reason for decreased air quality in the
town and RSPM rises mainly during the peak tourist season.
 Rohtang: Because of rough terrain, wind blow, moisture,
etc., it is very difficult to install air quality monitoring
systems in Rohtang area. Therefore, air monitoring of the
area monitoring is done for 5-6 months at Gulaba and for 4-
5 months at Marhi. Black snow was observed near the NH
 in Rohtang Pass because of the movement of large number
of vehicles causing pollution with.soot particles and CO
gases. RSPM also increased above the desirable limit
77.12μg/m3 (June, 2018-19) (Desirable limit is 60 μg/m3).
It also fluctuates between 40-80 μg/m3.
 c) Water pollution: According to the IPH department
laboratory test reports, the parameters of potable water
tested are always within acceptable limit. But on the other
hand, value of total coliform in Beas river is more than
desirable limit (500MPN/SCP/100ml) but less than
permissible limit (5000MPN/SCP/100ml). Sewage
treatment plant:
 Sewage production rises to 15-16 MLD during the peak
season while the capacity of STP of Manali is 1.82 MLD.
The situation becomes worse in tourism season due to extra
incoming sewage flow especially in the months of May,
June and July.
 d) Land degradation: With increased tourism activities,
hotels, cottages, resorts and restaurants have been
constructed for meeting the requirement of tourists. Due to
land degradation, natural resources of water and forest
resources are in danger.
 4 Social environment: Manali is famous for rich culture,
traditions and scenic beauty. It was found that the
employment and jobs have increased in the area. The
negative activities have also been noticed which includes
drugs and body trade rackets. With the expansion of
tourism, following impacts have been noticed:
a) Positive Impacts
Employment Generation: Hotels, restaurants, home stays, taxi services,
travel agencies, tourist guide, photographer, sports and adventures
activities.
Developments: Manali has emerged as a city from a small village with
the growth of tourism and people of Manali are open-minded. Schools,
hospitals, administrative offices such as Executive Engineer HPSEB,
Deputy Superintendent of Police, Area Manager HPTDC, Range Officer
Forest department, etc. Road and transport facility also developed with
the passage of time. But these roads are also overcrowded due to the
tourist’s vehicles.
b) Negative Impacts
Drugs Trade: Drug business has grown simultaneously with tourism
activities. The government banned the cultivation of cannabis and
tobacco; however, this has not stopped yet. District Administration Kullu
has taken many steps and organized awareness programs for stopping the
drug supply.

Cultural degradation: Half of the population has become victim of change

and people have forgotten their culture for money and even changed the
structure of houses which were previously, made of mud-n-stone, wood-
n-stone and wood.

High Prices: Local people have to face price rise due to tourism activity,
especially during the peak season when more tourists visit the town.

Mitigation Measures For minimizing environmental impacts; planning,

regulation, incentives, physical hardening and education must be united.
Capacity of sewage treatment plant must be increased and influx of
tourists must be reduced as compare to carrying capacity.

Discussion
Similar study carried out by Apollo (2015) in Himalayan villages of India
and Nepal, which view tourism as an important component in the
development process, especially in Global South countries like India and
Nepal. Tourism that generates such a large transformation must be taken
into consideration during the development of plans to protect the
environment. In the Manali town, the major problem is solid waste which
increases during the peak tourist season. Observations made by Singh
(2013) in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh shows that Manali and
Shimla are preferred destinations for summers due to pleasant climate.
Both the hill stations have almost similar impacts of tourism development
activities. With the flow of tourist, the major impacts on nature are:
global warming, depletion of ozone layer, acid rain and pollution of water
resources which results in disappearance of habitats and species. The
same impacts were noticed in Manali.Thomas (2013) proposed the
concept of sustainable tourism. He evaluates the challenges by tourism
and studies the impacts on environment responding to global challenges.
Environmental problems as well as economic risks posed by climate
change are serious concern among countries, mainly the climate affects
the tourism because climate is the principal resource for tourism industry,
on the other hand tourism also affects the environment and responsible
for many climatic and environmental issues but in our study area the
climate change is slow or minor changes caused by tourism. Presently
tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors in Frontiers In
Science and Technology 22 the world. Growth of tourism activities has
resulted in unnecessary pressure on natural resources. Global climate
change is only in its nascent stage and its intensity will be different on
different tourist destinations. Similar observations were made by
Habibullah et al. (2015) where they established the relationship between
tourism and biodiversity loss, i.e., increase in tourism activities results in
biodiversity loss and same is observed in the study area. Thus, the
tourism activities have posed threats to landscapes, air quality, water
quality, biodiversity, and noise quality, and waste generation, besides
affecting the socioeconomic and socio-cultural milieu of an area. In the
present study of Manali town, it is found that government has taken the
mitigating measures but measures have need of a good implementation. If
not implemented properly, future of Manali will be drastic.
Environmental problems must be monitored and laws and regulations
must be implemented strictly for sustainable tourism. Thus, there is need
of assessing the same with regard to the environment for effective policy
formulation.