Abstract

Tourism is bread and butter for many families. This sector is diverse. Some of the major occupations in this field are hotels, guest houses and restaurants. Tour operators and guides play a key role as they provide itineraries. Tourism has a multiplier effect too. Spending in this sector steers to a broader chain of economic activities, causing an overall development. Its indirect impact would be on other businesses as tourists purchase goods and services from other local businesses like general shops, dry fruit shops, grocery stores, food supplies and laundry services. It has impacts on public transport, agriculture, fisheries and even on health care also. Construction and real estate are at peak in well-developed tourist areas. Thus, increased tourism income can lead to enhanced structure of a society that will benefit equally tourists and residents. Hunza, a district of Gilgit Baltistan is well known for travel and tourism. The influx of domestic tourists has led to the growth of the tourism sector. The number of lodging facilities are increasing with every season. A sustainable business environment is inevitable to enhance tourism in the region. This research has weighed the score of business environment of the tourism sector in Hunza scaling 1 to 7 (1 worst and 7 best). A structured questioner having seven questions with a seven-answer scale was undertaken. A total of 120 samples were gathered who were involved in tourism sector in Hunza. The study aimed to assess the tourism business environment by measuring opinions. Descriptive Statistics showed that the mean value/ score for the business environment of the tourism sector in Hunza is 3.73 out of 7. From the analysis it was further detected that the opportunities for business environment of tourism sector in Hunza are protection of property rights followed by less burden of government regulation. The weaknesses are government ensuring policy stability followed by SME access to finance. There is an alarming situation of the business environment of tourism sector in Hunza. Lastly, there is a dire need to improve all the mentioned indicators of the business environment to enhance sustainable tourism in the long run.