There was a time when terrorism was ripe throughout the country of Pakistan and the world saw it as a terrorism-ridden country like Afghanistan. The locals would venture out of their houses for everyday life operations with their lives on the line but that is just how life was. Tourism in the country was almost non-existent due to it, among other factors. Fortunately, for the past few years, the government has nearly eradicated the feared organizations that used to operate in different regions by terrorists. From then onwards, the conditions began to stabilize and one could easily see the tourism potential of the country blooming already. In 2018, there was a 70% increase in international tourists compared to the previous year and the percentage has only gone up. The revenue earned via the foreign exchequer was worth over $2 billion in the year 2018. As Aftab Rana, PTDC Managing Director, remarked, “As the law and order situation in the country has improved, the confidence of foreign tourists has increased.”
Before the local government stamped out terrorism from the region, the only portrayal that Pakistan got in the world was a bleak one. News, TV shows, movies, and other mediums portrayed the country as a place of evil, a place where no foreigner should ever set foot in if they valued their life. The only international recognition that Pakistan had was of being a terrorist state but that all changed with time.
Revenue earned through the influx of tourists was on a steady rise from 2018 but the real burst came in 2019 when foreign vloggers starting traveling through the country and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge came on their first British Royal visit. The British Backpacker Society in 2017 ranked Pakistan as a commendable adventure travel destination with the comment, “one of the friendliest countries on earth, with mountain scenery that is beyond anyone’s wildest imagination.” Pakistan came under the list of “10 coolest to go in 2019” by Forbes and “best holiday destination in 2020” by Conde Nast.
Among the many foreign vloggers that traipsed through the cities and villages of Pakistan, Eva zu Beck’s name comes to mind. She produced a laudable number of videos during her 10 months stay in the country, and in the most viewed and globally debated video she claimed that Pakistan can become the world’s top-ranked travel destination. Other foreign vloggers that massed to the country and gained national and international recognition for it were Alex Reynolds, and Rosie Gabrielle, Drew Binsky, etc. The positive views of such foreigners certainly brought international attention to the country and people once again started considering Pakistan worth exploring. Most of the vloggers have left enthusiastic reviews about the nation’s hospitality like Binsky said, “Why is everything free in Pakistan? The people of Pakistan are incredibly joyful. They’re laid-back, they don’t stress much, they don’t care about living in a nice house or driving a fancy car, they are just living a happy life and that’s all there is to it!”
Globally, 9.8% of the economic growth is owed to international tourism in countries that are known to be travel destinations. Sayed Zulfikhar Abbas Bukhari, who holds the position of Special Assistant to PM for Overseas Pakistanis, has estimated, “Pakistan is just below 3%…if we take this to the world average of 10%, (compared to) potential doing even far more, that brings around $25 billion into the country a year.”
The current government has made impressive efforts to further the tourism sector of the country by taking various measures. Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) has been working on a National Tourism Strategy 2021 – 2030 and Action Plan 2021- 2025. Under it, the motels that come under PTDC will see a public-private partnership and the profit will be used to start new projects in the sector. Aftab Rana, the PTDC Managing Director has outlined how intensive training of PTDC employees will be held on a national and international level. Moreover, the strategy includes the launch of new introductory books in around 100 countries and e-visa facilities for visitors from 50 countries. It is noteworthy that this would mark the first time when the private sector has been made to be a part of such a government strategy in the sector.
When talking about the religious and historical sites of Buddhists and Sikhs, Rana Aftab expressed that the government has high hopes to receive a diverse flow of tourists. He mentioned, “These places are open to foreign tourists and people of faith…. The Kartapura corridor is a shining example of this.
Initiatives were already underway when the pandemic took over the world and life stopped everywhere. To stop the spread of the highly contagious and fatal virus of COVID-19, governments all around the globe imposed travel bans. One of the sectors that were heavily affected was the tourism sector in Pakistan. Sardar Ali Shah, who is the Sindh Minister for Culture, Tourism and Antiquities reported, “Sindh lost almost 50% local tourism and 90% of international tourism to Covid-19 during 2020.” Speaking of how tourism was soaring before COVID-19 hit, he added, “If it was 50% in 2017, it increased to 70-80% in 2018 and 90-100% in 2019. International tourists have started visiting places, including Mohenjo Daro and Makli in 2019 after we held international conferences on the sites in collaboration with the United Nations’ UNESCO.”
Despite the halt, officials are hopeful that tourism will start up again in the other half of 2021. Shah estimated, “My guess is that tourism will start getting normalised with the start of summer season. It would remain affected till June and may recover by 20-25% during Jul-Dec 2021…as the world has also introduced effective vaccines.”
The government has also come up with a ‘Pakistan’ tourism brand campaign which will be launched by September 2021. The Managing Director of PTDC explained how the project is about a tourism portal that would serve as a beacon of Pakistani tourism. The portal will contain documentaries, and a virtual gallery focused on tourism in the country. The purpose of the portal is to provide much-needed exposure to the different tourist attractions of the country. The users would be able to access all the information through one click and navigate the website due to its user-friendly interface to get access to updated information about all the hot tourist spots.
Northern areas of Pakistan, the main tourist attraction, will be made more accessible by the launch of a new private airline called ‘North Air’. The routes taken by the airline will be between Islamabad, Skardu, Chitral, Gilgit, and Gwadar. Raja Nazeem ul Ameen who is the North Air founder and co-owner expressed, “We are optimistic the airline will help promote Pakistan as a global tourist destination. We want to improve connectivity and fill the gap of limited flight operations.”
The future of the tourism sector looks bright in Pakistan but experts have warned the government that this boom is affecting the fragile ecosystem of the region. The only hope lies with ecotourism which as Ali Nawaz, director of the Snow Leopard Foundation, explained is “Ecotourism is about managing the negative impact of tourism by engaging the community actively and transferring benefits to them.”
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