Title: Eco-tourism and sustainable development in Himachal Pradesh, India: a triple bottom line analysis

Authors: Sudheer Singh Verma; Ashish Kumar; Aryan Guleria

Addresses: Department of South and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Central University of Punjab, V.P.O. Ghudda, District Bathinda, Punjab, 151401, Bathinda, India ' Department of South and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Central University of Punjab, V.P.O. Ghudda, District Bathinda, Punjab, 151401, Bathinda, India ' Department of South and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Central University of Punjab, V.P.O. Ghudda, District Bathinda, Punjab, 151401, Bathinda, India

Abstract: This article aims to examine how ecotourism fosters sustainable development in Himachal Pradesh while concurrently analysing the state's eco-tourism policy in facilitating sustainability. The tourism industry provides economic opportunity and socio-cultural well-being for the local community. Himachal Pradesh is rich in biodiversity, and scenic landscapes offer significant potential for eco-tourism. The lens of the triple bottom line (TBL) approach is applied to analyse eco-tourism in Himachal Pradesh, India, which focuses on three dimensions, namely, economic (profit), socio-cultural (people), and environmental (planet) sustainability or more prominently known as 3P's. This qualitative study uses content and thematic analyses to understand the meaning and emerging trends in the area. Qualitative and quantitative data are collected from electronic databases like JSTOR and Google Scholar. The study reveals how eco-tourism initiatives promoted by various government projects and policies integrate sustainability across the society's economic, socio-cultural, and environmental domains.

Keywords: eco-tourism; Himachal Pradesh; sustainability; triple bottom line approach; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2025.150078

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2025 Vol.24 No.4, pp.336 - 356

Received: 16 Dec 2024
Accepted: 05 Mar 2025
Published online: 28 Nov 2025 *

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