This insightful volume critically explores whether higher altitude of habitation affects host-guest exchanges in mountaineering tourism, in an effort to better understand and manage vulnerable destinations in a sustainable manner.The book is based on empirical research conducted in the Mount Everest area in Nepal, part of the Sagarmatha National Park, which is a popular destination among tourists engaging in high-altitude mountaineering (subdivided into hiking, trekking and mountai...

This book investigates the consequences of mountaineering (hiking, trekking, climbing) on the natural environment. These consequences are divided into three groups: 1) transformations caused by the mountaineer’s, or other people’s, stay in a mountaineering region; 2) transformations caused by the mountaineer’s travel (movement) through a mountaineering region, with the consideration of the ground type (rock, rock and grass, grass, residual soil, snow, ice), and 3) transformations caused by...

This bookoffers a critical account of the historical evolution of mountaineering and its relation to the phenomenon of tourism, providing an overview of recent developments linked to the diversification, commodification and commercialisation of mountaineering activity.Mountaineering, broadly defined as hiking, trekking and climbing, is now a mass phenomenon, with continually growing numbers of trekkers, climbers and religious tourists hiking in mountain regions. Increasing visitor ...

This book brings together interdisciplinary perspectives with the aim of broadening understandings of poverty. It contains both empirical and conceptual chapters, including those by local researchers, on a range of topics highlighting the relationship between poverty and sustainability. It cover themes such as: changes in the environment that pose an existential risk to humans; new concepts in tourism development that consider it as one of the key contributors in the prosperity and well-be...

This timely and interdisciplinary book is the first to examine mountain tourism and local communities with a pro-poor lens. By drawing on human geography, political and social science, ethics and moral philosophy and empirical research, the volume explores how mountain tourism can be used to fight poverty and inequality in mountain regions.Mountain tourism represents a growing mass tourism phenomenon. The local population, recognizing the possibilities for increased income, started...

This book provides holistic insights into management of protected areas across East Asia and identifies current trends in mountain tourism within the broader field of human geography and nature conservation. The book describes the diversification in visitors and expanding protected areas territories in different Asian countries during recent years. It also compares protected areas networks in the context of the changing demographic profiles of visitors and provides an interdisciplinary tra...