NewsApril 04 , 2019
Pakistan has unmatched tourism potential: PM
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday cautioned that Pakistan’s untouched scenic sites will be ruined if tourism in the country were not regulated and appropriate laws not enacted.Addressing the Pakistan Tourism Summit here, which was attended also by a number of renowned foreign travel bloggers, the prime minister recalled his visits to erstwhile Northern Areas and said Pakistan had unmatched tourism potential. He pointed out that the social media had played an important part in tourism promotion and domestic tourism was exploding. He noted that the investment return with regard to tourism was unmatchable.
The prime minister cautioned Minister for Tourism Atif Khan and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Zulfi Bokhari and said that tourism needed to be regulated and laws enacted accordingly, otherwise, picturesque sites would be ruined as well as the undiscovered areas. Atif and Bokhari were present at the event.
He pointed out the fact that Pakistan was known for its hospitality globally because the people here are welcoming to tourists. “A major reason a place is admired by tourists is because of its people,” he explained.
The prime minister was confident that many tribal areas of the former Fata would attract a lot of visitors when they were to be opened for tourism. “But when that is done, I request the task force on tourism that you have to make people respect the local sensibilities and local culture," he emphasised.
He continued that if tourists disrespect the local customs of the tribal areas, the reaction that would follow would negatively impact tourism. He recalled his personal travel experiences in Pakistan over the years and again highlighted the tourism potential of the country, which he said was unmatched anywhere in the world. He said there were about 100 more Nathiagalis across Pakistan.
Imran Khan claimed that Pakistan offered the best tourism attractions in the world ranging from beach, mountain and desert tourism. He noted that there was a unique diversity of forests and mountains in Pakistan. He also talked about what he called the virgin coastal belt in Balochistan, but regretted that it was unfortunate that our elite preferred to visit England and Europe during summer vacations instead of exploring our own tourist spots.
The prime minister continued, “Allah has bestowed us with diverse kind of mountain scenery from Suleman, Karakoram and Himalaya heights and these mountain ranges have their own diverse features abundant with great vegetation, wildlife and bird life, which have no match in any part of the world.”
Imran Khan noted that Gilgit-Baltistan had immense potential for tourism and with the improved law and order there a large number of people had visited the areas. He mentioned that at the age of 15, he first had seen Gilgit, Hunza and other areas, as their teacher Geoffrey Douglas Langlands used to take them away for tourism. He said that poverty had decreased due to increased tourism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and added that Pakistani tourists needed to be given awareness about the scenic beauty of the country, emphasising that tourism must be promoted with responsibility, while taking care of the environment.
The prime minister also talked on religious tourism, especially for the followers of Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism and believed it would increase the number of tourists in the country.
Courtesy www.thenews.com.pk
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