By Rahat Bashir
Pakistan is immensely gifted with beautiful landscapes ranging from lofty mountains in the north to beautiful beaches in the south.
The country is filled with diverse geographical locations including spectacular waterfalls, fast-flowing rivers, snow-capped peaks, mighty glaciers, plateaus, plains, salt ranges, mangroves, and even forests and deserts making it a perfect recipe for tourism. Moreover, it also offers ethnolinguistic and cultural diversity like Sindhi, Makrani, Punjabi, Saraiki, Baltis, Hazara, and Pakhtun to mention a few.
Tourism is a highly demanding but financially rewarding industry. It not only contributes to the economy of the country but also generates employment opportunities in hotels, restaurants, car-rental agencies, tour companies, service stations, and souvenir shops. This in turn generates foreign exchange earnings, and revenue and improves the GDP and reputation of the country.
The prime location of Pakistan in South Asia makes it a gateway between the western/middle-eastern and eastern countries, and can also serve as a transit country in the future just like Dubai. With strategic planning and investment, Dubai rose from a barren desert to a hotspot of tourism, welcoming over 16 million tourists in 2019.
In Pakistan, thousands of kilometers of roads including highways and motorways have been built in the CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) agreement since 2013. The infrastructure development also led to the development of guest houses, gas stations, and restaurants.
It revived the local tourism industry and received a 37 percent increase in tourist visa applications due to CPEC in previous years. The local industry can further be developed by attracting investors to and strategic marketing on social media, newspapers, magazines, and even mainstream media like television.
Last year, a UAE vlogger Khalid Al-Ameri visited Pakistan and was overwhelmed with Pakistan’s beauty and landscapes. His YouTube video titled “Trying The Pakistani ‘Anday Wala’ Burger! (My First Day In Pakistan)” crossed over a million soon after it was uploaded.
People like Khalid Al Ameri, and international content creators, having audiences from all around the world are an asset to Pakistan, they can revolutionize the distorted image of the country and show the “real” Pakistanis to the world, known for their hospitality and kindness and not corruption and other issues which are highlighted and focus of the media from long.
Over the past few years, there have been many renowned Youtubers with over a million followers and social influencers visiting Pakistan including American food vlogger Mark Wiens, Chinese YouTuber Mikey Chen, Polish TV Host Eva Zu Beck, etc and showing the beautiful side of Pakistan to the world.
There is a dire need to develop tourism on sustainable grounds so that our beautiful land is preserved and continues to fascinate the generations to come. The rise of local tourism has led to pollution in the northern areas.
The government of Pakistan needs to tackle this problem promptly and allocate people to manage waste disposal problems, cleanliness, and keep a check on deforestation. There should be environmental campaigns to create awareness about the rising issue and a policy to counter it. International tourists are particularly keen on the standardization of hotels and the availability of transport to the northern areas.
Another aspect linked with the tourism sector is that government must also work on eradicating child labor and bonded labor which are key concerns about Pakistan in all international forums. According to the article published by The Guardian after the visit of Brandon from Humans of New York in 2015,
“Humans of New York highlighted the vital work of BLLF an organization led by Syeda Ghulam Fatima for eradicating bonded labor, which is in fact a pernicious form of modern-day slavery. Within hours of Fatima’s story being posted online, hundreds of comments appeared from people around the world who wanted to know how they could help. Humans of New York set up a fundraising page for people wishing to donate and, in just four days, 73,000 people collectively donated more than $2m (£1.3m) to help free the laborers.”
Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) and National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) have been working towards accelerating the tourism industry in Pakistan. In 2019, Pakistan opened Kartarpur Corridor which is a visa-free border for Indian Sikhs to visit Pakistan.
It was Pakistan’s step to initiate goodwill and friendship with its neighbors who share the same heritage and culture. Pakistan has now started visa-on-arrival for 45 countries including the United States of America and an online visa system is available for all 191 countries. Recently, there have been job openings in the tourism industry which shows the government’s keen interest in the sector.
In the latest move by the Lahore division administration, the authorities of the metropolis have deliberated to allocate as many as 35 ‘Selfie points’ in Lahore city as part of the ‘Beautiful Lahore Program’ to boost Lahore tourism.
Read about Best spots to visit in Lahore and 35 ‘Selfie points’ to boost Lahore tourism.
According to The News, “the recent budget allocated to tourism reflects good prospects in the industry. It stated “Up to Rs1.45bn has been allocated for tourism and mines & minerals, respectively, which reflects a 231pc increase in tourism budget.
A cursory look at the budget document shows there are 14 ongoing schemes and 17 proposed new schemes. Up to Rs750 million has been allocated for North Punjab and Rs350 million for south and central Punjab.
The Punjab government took a number of initiatives to promote South Punjab Tourism as per the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and to further strengthen the economy to increase the importance of the historical, religious, and cultural sites located in South Punjab. Read about it here.
The approved cost for the 14 ongoing schemes is Rs1.081.425 billion, and they are expected to be completed by 2023. The 17 new schemes will get a total of Rs1.064 billion. These new projects are also expected to be finished by 2023.“
Moreover, there have been proposals for double-decker buses for sightseeing, and a water park in Jhang, and special consideration has been given to cleanliness to meet international quality and standards. If this project is carried out successfully, then international tourism will certainly boost due to the availability of convenient transport.
The wait for the upgradation of the Skardu airport is finally over as the airport has been elevated to international status and will begin operations under the new identity from Dec 2 (Thursday), the Civil Aviation Authority announced in a tweet on Wednesday. Pakistan tourism upscale as Skardu airport welcomes transnational flights from Dec 2.
Pakistan has a lot of potential for growth in the tourism industry and with proper leadership, planning, and execution, our country could become one of the topnotch tourist hubs in the world in the coming years.
