Mountains- homes of the gods, sources of life-giving waters, gigantic monuments of rock and ice - that for centuries posed as impenetrable boundaries, are increasingly falling vulnerable to humans' sporting endurance, to an onslaught of travelers seeking escape from cluttered lives, and to demands on natural resources and cultural institutions that far exceed capacities. Ironically, tourism -- that which brought laudable economic opportunities to here-to-fore isolated and undeveloped mountain regions - is turning mountains into "the world's highest trash dumps," into high altitude Disneylands that misrepresent and exploit mountain cultures with little gain for mountain inhabitants. Infrastructure development (roads, airports, hotels, communications, etc.) is opening mountain regions to mass tourism before proper tourism planning or management can take place.
Tourism is vital to the conservation and development of mountain regions. Mountain tourism constitutes 15-20% of worldwide tourism, or US$ 70 -90 billion per year. The world's largest industry, tourism, has seen an increase in annual turnover of 4.7% over the 1990s, and is anticipated to grow at a rate of 4.1% annually over the next twenty years. Mountain tourism plays a significant role in national economies, relative to mountain economies' generally small contributions.
