24 Aug 2018 | News

Highlighting Need for Sustainable Tourism at Global Adventure and Mountaineering Expo

ICIMOD’s Director General David Molden and Tourism Specialist Anu Kumari Lama delivered talks at the Global Adventure and Mountaineering Conference and Expo (GAMCE) 2018.

Organized by the House of Rajkarnicar in Kathmandu, GAMCE was first organized to help revive the Nepali adventure tourism sector after the 2015 earthquake. It hopes to build resilience and strengthen the adventure tourism sector as a whole.

0 mins Read

ICIMOD Director General David Molden delivering his talk—Climate+Change and Sustainable Tourism: A regional cooperation perspective in the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region

Molden’s talk was titled Climate+Change and Sustainable Tourism: A regional cooperation perspective in the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region. Its key message was related to the impacts of climate change, which, Molden noted, are becoming apparent in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). Tourism is a priority sector in the HKH affected by climate change. Molden pointed out that tourism is fundamental for sustainable development and seizing opportunities emerging from change should be the way forward for intraregional tourism.

Tourism Specialist Anu Kumari Lama from ICIMOD delivering her talk—Understanding Adventure Tourism Sustainability: Destination Resilience Perspective.

Lama’s talk, Understanding Adventure Tourism Sustainability: Destination Resilience Perspective, analyzed adventure tourism through the lenses of industry, tourists, and destinations at the interface of disaster, the economy, and tourist travel behaviour to explore how destinations can be made resilient in such contexts. Besides contributing as a speaker, Lama was also part of the technical committee that helped set conference agendas, topics, and speakers for the GAMCE 2018.

The three-day event was attended by 200 participants including European tour operators and mountaineering professionals, adventure enthusiasts, and tourists from around the world. There were 32 exhibitors of adventure travel services and gears at the event.