Abstract
Murree is a thrilling hill resort of Pakistan that lies approximately between 33° to 34° North latitude and 72° 42’ to 73° 30’
East longitude. The elevation of the area ranges from 600m to 2100 m from sea level. More than 1000 visitors pay their visit
to this hill resort daily. It is situated about 65km North of Islamabad. This area is geographically known as “Foot hill of
Himalayas”. Murree is very important location due to its forest cover mainly comprising of Chir pine and Blue pine forests;
that not only provide timber, fuel wood, and other non-timber benefits to community but also serve as watershed area and a
magnificent picnic spot. Eco-tourism is a multimillion enterprise in Murree. More than one million tourists visit Murree each
year. The population of Murree grows up 10 times more than the local population during the hot summer spell in the country
and winter season during snow fall. Most of the local people are associated directly or indirectly to this industry. In true
sense, Ecotourism plays a vital role in the improvement of socioeconomic conditions of the local community. To find out the
role of ecotourism and public preferences towards interest of nature conservation, a survey of visitors was conducted; using a
structured questionnaire in three most busy locations, The Mall, Patriata and Bhurban. The reported onsite experiences of
respondents were analyzed to identify important factors that motivated them to visit the site and had effect on their
conservation attitudes and to assess the visitor’s behavior towards forest based ecotourism and analyzed their preferences
regarding “quality ranking” as a recreational spot and possible improvements for further recreational development without
damaging the habitat. From a total samples of 180 respondents, 52.78 % preferred Muree Hill resort for the enjoyment from
the view point of forests flora and fauna and natural beauty, 32.78% responded for general environment, 2.22% for near
distance location and 5% did not specify any particular reason for their visit. There is significant relationship between the
specific objective “to enjoy scenery and forests” and their first time visit or yearly visit to the forest area. The results of Fdistribution at 95 % confidence interval showed significant relationship between specific objective “to enhance knowledge”
and their first time visit or the yearly visit to the forest area. The enhanced knowledge about the environment and of forests
causes awareness among visitors for the conservation of nature along with tourism development.
