GIS BASED SITE SUITABILITY ANALYSIS FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL SKIING RESORTS IN GILGIT BALTISTAN, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Tourism is of different types but the most famous type among tourists is adventure tourism. Skiing, a type of adventure tourism, is one of the most famous winter sports and a recreational activity among tourists. Although many northern areas of Pakistan have a great potential to promote ski adventure activities but in Pakistan skiing is not a well-known recreational activity. Gilgit Baltistan (GB) is a mountainous region of Pakistan that is famous for tourism because of its beautiful and natural scenic views. Realizing the potential to promote ski adventure tourism, this study was designed to identify the suitable sites for the development of potential skiing resorts in GB using GIS. For this purpose, three main parameters including temperature (average annual number of snow days, average annual number of months for ski season, average annual maximum air temperature days during ski season, average annual mean daily min-max. temperature), slope and elevation were analyzed. The results showed that 82% land of GB is not good for skiing which means that development of suitable sites for skiing resorts is only possible on the identified 18% area of GB. This suitable area was extracted and further classified into Vacational Ski resorts, Learning ski areas and ski areas for experienced skiers. The results showed that 18% area can be used for the construction of ski resorts for vacational purposes, 41% area can be can be utilized by tourists for learning purposes and 39% area can be used by those skiers who are expert in skiing. This study can be helpful for the relevant departments of the Government of Gilgit Baltistan to develop the potential ski sites. It was concluded that Gilgit Baltistan has a great potential for the development of different types of ski resorts that may generate substantial revenue by promoting ski adventure tourism.