During the last two decades tourism is considered as the building block of country overall growth. Pakistan tourism ranking among the world is at the lowest level. Despite the fact that Pakistan is considered as one of the top countries among the rest of

Abstract

During the last two decades tourism is considered as the building block of country overall growth. Pakistan tourism ranking among the world is at the lowest level. Despite the fact that Pakistan is considered as one of the top countries among the rest of the world for ecotourism and also other farms of tourism the overall purpose of this research study was to identify factors that impede and promote sustainable ecotourism development in Saiful Muluk National Park of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The main objectives of this study were to explore factors impeding sustainable tourism development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and to identify factors promoting sustainable tourism development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Being qualitative in nature, data was collected by conducting in-depth interviews with key stakeholders (Wildlife Staff, Local business community and Tourists) of Saiful National Park. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyze data through NVivo software. The key findings in respect of impeding factors were identified as inadequate infrastructure, unbalanced power structure and communication gap among the key stakeholders while promoting factors includes uniqueness of the site, scenic beauty, precious wildlife species and hospitable local community culture.