Gilgit:
The Gilgit-Baltist administration will ban for five years the construction of new hotels around picturesque lakes in the north that attract tens of thousands of tourists every year, says a government agency.
Unregulated construction of hotels in GB – which boasts about 13,000 glaciers, more than any other country outside the polar regions – has given rise to major concerns about environmental impairment.
The region’s natural beauty has made it a top tourist destination, with towering tops threateningly over the old Silk Road and a highway that transports tourists between cherry plantations, glaciers and ice blue lakes.
