Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: River Tourism in Nepal: A Social, Environmental, and Economic Assessment

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0108977Rhoades / Van De BergTourism is one of the world's major industries, and the impact of this industry upon local cultures is an enduring field of study. This dissertation research involves an anthropology student from the University of Georgia studying the role of river-based tourism (whitewater rafting) in local communities in Nepal. The student will study rafting company owners, river guides, and local river villages as well as the rafting tourism clients. The study will elicit the major costs and benefits of the river tourism industry from each of these groups of stakeholders; assess the level of agreement about the social, environmental and economic costs and benefits within and between each group using consensus analysis; and compare the economic contributions made by clients of river tourism along two rivers, one of shorter and one of longer trip duration. The research will advance our understanding of the role of river tourism in the subsistence of local villagers and gather data to help assess the impact of planned changes in the river environment. In addition it will advance the anthropological methodology of consensus analysis, a way of analyzing the knowledge of a group of persons about a defined topic; will contribute to the training of a young social scientist, and advance our understanding of this important region of the world.