New Delhi: While the number of visitors to the Char Dham – the Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines in Uttarakhand – are increasing, the spots can take only a certain limit of tourists.

According to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, the Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines can only take a maximum of 15,778, 13,111, 8,178 and 6,160 visitors per day, provided sustainable measures such as proper waste management, limiting access to vehicles and more are taken by the government.

It also recommends that the government take several steps – including developing nearby spots – to take away the pressure from existing tourist hotspots across the Char Dham.

Rising footprints at the Char Dham

The four Hindu shrines that constitute the Char Dham lie in the higher reaches at the base of glaciers in the Himalaya in Uttarakhand. They attract lakhs of pilgrims every year. According to government data, in 2019, the Char Dham received an estimated 34,77,957 pilgrims (though this number dropped in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Several infrastructure projects in Uttarakhand have also been planned around this rise in tourist influx over the years. Such as the controversial Char Dham Road Project. The Project aims to increase connectivity to all the four dhams in the state by laying new roads and widening existing highways.

However, environmentalists and researchers have raised numerous concerns due to the impact of the project on the fragile ecology and terrain of these regions.

Deforestation is a prime worry, primarily due to the resulting lack of stability in these mountain zones. Most recently, in late August, the Uttarakhand forest department granted in-principle approval for the Border Roads Organisation to use 17.5 hectares of forest land for the construction of a bypass road that is to be part of the Char Dham project.

With such logging, alterations in land use and climate change that has intensified rains in the region, Uttarakhand's Char Dham areas have witnessed several disasters in recent times. A landslide at Dharali, a village enroute to the Gangotri glacier and dham, on August 5, left several dead and hundreds missing.

A team of researchers from the institutes including the G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment in Uttarakhand studied the eco-tourism potential in and around the Char Dham areas of the state. They examined ten different but relevant indices (such as maximum snow-covered area, slope and vegetation cover) in these areas to estimate their tourist carrying capacity. Carrying capacity is the maximum number of people that a place can support and sustain without degrading its environment and resources.

The study found that elevation and slope are important to consider while developing eco-tourism sites in these areas. Areas higher than 4,200 metres in elevation were “less suitable” for tourism development, as were spots with steep slopes. So they recommend tourism development at sites at lower elevations and with lower slopes.

For instance, around 50% of the area in and around the Badrinath shrine had slopes lower than 33 degrees and were suitable sites to develop tourism activities. However, these sites should not be located in valleys and along their slopes, maintaining a buffer of at least 100 metres from valley bases.

The team also studied indices such as geodiversity (the kinds of geological structures such as sedimentary deposits), climate and change in snow cover area.

Not surprisingly, they found that the area under snow cover in these four shrines and around them has declined from 2002 to 2020. Snow cover, they found, had retreated the highest in the Gangotri glacier (by 22.36 m per year) followed by Yamunotri (20 m per year), Badrinath (17.32 m per year) and Kedarnath (14.14 m per year).

Ensuring safe distances from these glaciers, the team found that the suitable areas for tourism development were limited to around 167 sq km in both the Gangotri and Yamunotri dhams, and around 145 sq km in Kedarnath and almost 100 km in Badrinath.

Carrying capacities

Based on these indices, the team then analysed the carrying capacity of these four areas. Per their estimates, the actual carrying capacity for Badrinath is between 11,833 and a maximum of 15,778 tourists per day, between 9,833 and 13,111 for Kedarnath, between 6,133 and 8,178 for Gangotri, and between 4,620 and 6,160 for Yamunotri.

Now consider the number of people who visited the Char Dham in 2019 (the last year for which there is government data; and not taking into account the year 2021, for data shows that the numbers of visitors that year showed a huge decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Tourist influx was around 6,073 visitors per day in Badrinath, around 4,878 visitors per day in Kedarnath, around 2,586 visitors per day in Gangotri and around 2,271 visitors per day in Yamunotri.

Per this data, the number of visitors is still within sustainable limits as estimated by the study. But the number of visitors to these shrines is only increasing. Over the last 24 years (2000-2024) alone, the number of visitors to these spots has increased by 28,784 visitors per year in Badrinath, by 39,671 visitors per year in Kedarnath, 28,784 visitors per year in Gangotri, and by 28,784 visitors per year in Yamunotri.

While the Char Dham areas (geographical extent) can take more visitors, several factors including slope and area under snow cover suggest that the real number of visitors it can take is far lesser.

Per the study, for instance, the physical carrying capacity of Badrinath is around 29,500 visitors per day, but its real carrying capacity taking into account sustainable limits is 11,833. Similarly, the physical carrying capacity of Kedarnath is around 24,500 visitors per day, but its real carrying capacity is 9,833. Gangotri can take nearly 20,000 visitors but its real carrying capacity is 6,133, and while Yamunotri can take nearly 10,000 visitors per day, its real carrying capacity is 4,620.

More recommendations

Apart from identifying areas that will be best suited to establishing eco-tourism locations based on all these factors, the study also recommends developing ‘satellite spots’ – areas around existing major destinations – so that tourism is ‘decentralised’ and tourist activities and their impacts (such as increased water requirements, production of more waste) can be tackled effectively. It lists some of these sites.

For instance, in Badrinath, the existing tourist spot is at the Badrinath temple, right next to the Tapt Kund, Sheshnetra Yogadhyan Temple and Brahma Kapal. The study recommends that satellite spots such as Joshimath and Auli (which fall under the highly suitable spots in the region for eco-tourism potential), which are in the lower altitudes of the Badrinath Char Dham area, be developed sustainably.

But before developing these ‘satellite spots’, the government needs to take “customised actions” in the Char Dham areas, including developing mountaineering villages to plan home stays, developing infrastructural services like adequate car/vehicle parks, and other amenities as well as developing community-based responsible tourism initiatives and launching a sustainable travel mobile application for secure travel, the study said.

For instance, government initiatives should empower nomadic indigenous tribal communities (such as the Radampa and Bhotia in Mana village, Badrinath, and the Jaad-Bhotiyas in Gangotri), it noted.

The study added that infrastructure to monitor air, water and soil quality in these spots is also important.

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