A holiday can end in a photograph. Or, sometimes, in a missing-person report. The images coming out of Nepal are difficult to look at. Roads being deluged by floods. Houses being carried away by the waters. Cars being buried. Families looking for individuals who left home that morning and were never heard from again. Among the dead are many tourists. Individuals who came to the mountains to get some rest. Perhaps that is what is so sad about the whole story.

We have sold the mountains as a getaway place for over four decades. Cool air. Beautiful valleys. Rivers. Snow-capped mountains. Quiet roads leading through beautiful vistas. However, we need to recognise that the mountains are changing. Climate change isn’t just something scientists discuss at meetings; it’s happening right now. And in the mountains, it can happen instantly. Flooding rains. Flash flooding. Landslides. Overnight changes in rivers.So the tragic event in Nepal should not be viewed solely as another natural disaster. It should be recognised as a wake-up call, especially for people who rely more and more on tourism to support their economy. A tourist destination is more than a hotel, a road and scenic views. A tourist destination is a complex system. This system must be able to respond to failure.

Think of a family travelling into the mountains. They have reserved a hotel. They took a cab. They are travelling with children or elderly relatives. They probably don’t know anything about the local landscape. They probably do not even know which river they are crossing. They trust the........

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