EXPLORING THE ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE VISITORS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TOURISM: A CASE OF LAL SOHANRA NATIONAL PARK, BAHAWALPUR, PAKISTAN

National parks have an immense value in protecting the natural resources and biodiversity and amusing the tourists with aesthetic beauty. This study was undertaken with the main objective to explore the attitudes and perceptions of the visitors towards sustainable tourism at Lal Sohanra National park, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. For this purpose, a field survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire at the park to 250 visitors’ respondents randomly. The United Nations WTO indicators of sustainable tourism (2004) as sustaining tourist satisfaction were also applied to measure the level of satisfaction of tourists. The analysis carried out in SPSS v. 20 by applying descriptive statistics and individual samples T-Test. Results showed that among the visitors, 86.8% were males and 13.2% were females. Majority of respondents (54.8%) have the age of 15 to 30 years. By education, 19.6% respondents were intermediate passed and the majority of the visitors (52.4%) have been completed graduation. The monthly income of these respondents varied as 50.4% have earned 15,000 PKR per month and 31.2% were private employees or owns their personal business (34.4%). They spent considerable amount on their tour (conveyance and food) to the national park as 52.8% respondents have spent 4,000 to 8,000 PKR. Majority of the visitors (76%) were unmarried while 24% were married and most of them (44.4%) were belongs to different areas of Bahawalpur district and come with friends (51.6%) followed by family together (38.8%). They were visiting mostly on weekend/ holiday (52%) by using their personal (48.4%) and hired/ rented conveyance (34%). Although majority of the tourists (90.8%) have replied that they satisfied with the facilities and services provided by park administration. When they inquired about the provision of the additional facilities they answered to the need of better canteen (35%), improvements in play grounds and swings (23.6%) and improved security (18.8%). About 58.8% tourists have expressed their positive views and opinions about the park and 44% replied the national park as a place for sustainable tourism, biodiversity conservation (22%) and a place of recreation and green parks (18.4%). The overall level of satisfaction of the tourists was satisfactory as 53.6% tourists responded that they were satisfied. Results of individuals samples T-Test also verified the positive attitude and views of the tourists toward national park as a place of sustainable tourism and protected natural landscape (p-value 0.001). They were also well aware about the environmental issues at the park. Lastly few suggestions were recommended to the concerned authorities to bring more betterment and make it more appealing tourist destination for the visitors.