Pakistan is a wonderful country for tourism but unfortunately, the beauty of Pakistan is undiscovered and not known to the rest of the World. It is not less than any other beautiful country in the world. All provinces of Pakistan are gifted with heritage, culture, majestic and rugged mountains, lush green fields, lakes, rivers, deserts, and beautiful landscapes enriched with friendly and hospitable people thus making it a heavenly destination for tourists.
The Gilgit Baltistan region and Azad Kashmir is known as part of paradise. Swat Valley of KPK in Pakistan is known as the Switzerland of Asia. The historical and archaeological sites of the Gandhara and Indus Valley civilizations, Mohenjo-Daro, Taxila the Mughal Empire are examples of the oldest civilizations in Pakistan. The unique and diversified cultures of Pakistan are directly added to the tourism industry. The mountainous regions of the north, the Hindukush, Karakoram, and the Great Himalaya make this country a unique destination.
Pakistan has the second-highest peak K2 out of 14 highest peaks of more than 8000 meters in the world, and also has the major glaciers in the world.
There is 1000 km of beautiful beaches on the Arabian Sea in Balochistan and Sindh. In KPK, Buddhist shrines with statues and stupas dating back nearly two and a half thousand years.
We have Historic Hindu temples, Katas Raj Temples in Punjab and a thousand-year-old temple of Hanglaj Mata in Lasbela District of Balochistan. The holy places of Sikhs are located in Pakistan such as Nankana sahib Punjab, last year the government of Pakistan opened the religious place of Kartarpur to the Sikhs.
Thus, Pakistan is a big tourism market and we only need to promote the beauty of Pakistan. It has all the things that are necessary for the tourism industry in a country in a very standard way.
In the 70s Pakistan had a handsome number of foreign tourists. But after that our tourism industry partly collapsed because one reason for this was the new government did not pay attention towards this sector. The other major reason was that the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan made Pakistan the front line country. After 9/11, the situation became very critical. While it caused irreparable damage to Pakistan, it also destroyed the tourism industry and unfortunately tourism in Pakistan.
Govt efforts to promote the beauty of Pakistan
In the 2018 elections, the winning party PTI has given priority to Pakistan’s tourism industry in its development programs. Govt had made many initiatives to boost tourism in Pakistan. “Pakistan has huge tourism potential. We will promote tourism to strengthen the economy,” Khan said in his first television address to the nation.
In 2018, 6.6 Million people visited Pakistan, The federal government took an important step in 2019 to promote tourism and announced a new visa policy in the country in which the government removed unnecessary visa restrictions and also reduced visa fees for Pakistan.
According to the new visa policy, the citizens of 175 countries will be able to get e visa facility, and a visa-on-arrival facility would be provided to the nationals of 60 countries. In the past, we used to face a lot of difficulties in getting permits for the world’s highest places in the Himalayas and for K2, and Nanga Parbat, which has now been made much easier.
Similarly, special attention has been paid to roads and highways to reach the beautiful places of the country. The law and order situation is also much better than in the recent past.
Corona situation in Pakistan
Pakistan earned about 7.5 billion PKR from the tourism industry, but at the end of 2019, Corona spread all over the world, causing a severe recession all over the world. Corona’s epidemic has hit the tourism industry very hard and the atmosphere has not yet improved.
The hotel industry has also suffered locally and globally, the global epidemic of corona virus in 2019 has severely damaged the tourism sector around the world and the atmosphere has not yet improved, but Pakistan is one of the those countries in the world where Corona is controlled so we can better plan for the future than any other country.
There is no doubt that if we work a little harder, based on these blessings bestowed by nature, by 2025 we can earn up to 1 trillion PKR a year, the current calamity in the form of Corona could prove to be a golden opportunity for Pakistan’s tourism industry to be alternative of the countries that are considered tourism hubs in 2021. Fortunately, the government is also taking timely steps in this regard. Lastly, Pakistan is an attractive country but it needs to be highlighted.
Those Tourists who once visited Pakistan admired the beauty of Pakistan, a lot of videos are available for reference on YouTube and other social media.
