Local Development, Over-Tourism and Sustainable Environment: The Case of Mount Everest

Mount Everest faces the dual challenge of fostering local development while addressing the environmental and social impacts of over-tourism. This research borrows a qualitative methodology that uses open-ended questionnaires to gather data from people with first-hand experience in various sections at Everest. The chapter should detail the process of questionnaire distribution, collection of responses, and the criteria for participants' selection, emphasizing the rigour and reliability of the data collection process. The 50 questionnaires distributed resulted in 10 responses, analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and an inductive approach. This section will provide an in-depth analysis of the responses received, developing articulated themes, patterns, and narratives that emerged in the data. The findings will be discussed against the research questions that gave rise to an understanding of the perspectives of tourists and their impact on sustainable tourism practices. The final sections will synthesize the findings considered in the literature reviewed earlier, concluding the balance between tourism, local development, and environmental sustainability at Mount Everest. This study will present recommendations for policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers in line with the scope and objectives of the research towards advancing knowledge in the domain of sustainable tourism.