The Impact of Tourism Growth on Environmental Degradation in Pakistan: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Relationship between Tourism Expansion and Environmental Challenges

Abstract

The ecology in Pakistan is substantially impacted by the tourism industry's fast rise. We conducted a study using unit root tests to evaluate data stationary and ARDL (Autoregressive Distributive Lag) models on data ranging from 1990 to 2019 to analyze this influence. The dependent variable in our study was environmental degradation, whereas the independent variables were population increase, tourist growth, energy consumption, transportation, and tourism spending. The key findings point to a link between tourism and environmental deterioration. For example, we found that energy consumption, industrialization, transportation, and tourist expansion all had statistically significant positive effects on environmental deterioration, suggesting that growing tourism is a factor in the degradation of the environment. Our empirical results highlight the critical impact that rising tourism plays in Pakistan's environmental deterioration. As a consequence of our research, we advise the Pakistani government to focus particularly on increasing renewable energy sources in order to reduce pollution and control the environmental effects of tourism. Pakistan may achieve this balance between environmental preservation and tourism-driven economic prosperity.