Alpine meadows provide important ecosystem goods and services. However, their inherent vulnerability makes them susceptible to multiple stress factors such as global climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. As an important component of the tourism resources of northwestern Yunnan, China, alpine meadows have attracted numerous tourists each year. However, trampling disturbance caused by hiking activities could inevitably impose negative effects on alpine meadows in northwestern Yunnan. Furthermore, little attention has been paid to the effect of trampling disturbance on the vegetation species of alpine meadows in this region. In particular, research on changes in vegetation functional traits and functional diversity in the wake of trampling disturbance is very limited. The present study focused on a typical alpine meadow ecosystem located in Bitahai Nature Reserve, Shangri-la, Yunnan. Using experimental trampling with five different levels of trampling intensities, we simulated the disturbance scenario caused by hiking activities. By examining the characteristics of the stem and leaf traits of meadow vegetation, the study evaluated the effect of trampling disturbance on the means and variations in stem and leaf traits, as well as the relationship between species richness (based on species morphology classification) and functional richness (based on species functional traits). The results showed that increasing the trampling intensity, decreased the mean values of the vegetation height and leaf size, although it was not the case for the variations in stem and leaf traits. Moreover, both species and functional richness decreased with increasing trampling intensity, and there was a significant positive correlation between the two factors. However, for groups exposed to intense trampling treatment, functional evenness and functional divergence displayed an increasing pattern, indicating that trampling disturbance might have shifted the role and prevalence of dominant plants and reduced the niche overlap among competing species, at least for short term. Although alpine meadows have specific abilities to withstand human activities, human interference and climate change will inevitably change and impede the structural and functional sustainability of alpine meadow communities. Therefore, the effective protection and management of alpine meadows are urgent, and more science-oriented guidance is needed.