Islamabad: Speaking at ‘Tourism for Peace Dialogue’ organized by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS), and Walnut Travel and Tour Consultancy (WTTC), Senator Mushahid Hussain highlighted the potential of ‘spiritual tourism’ to transform Pakistan’s tourism landscape and stressed increased public-private partnerships, while noting that the government cannot manage tourism alone. He praised ‘Kartarpur Corridor’ as an excellent soft power and spiritual transformation hub that needs to be effectively projected globally. He also underlined the need for translating existing goodwill and linkages such as strong ties between Pakistan and China, the enrolment of Afghan and African students in Pakistani universities, and Pakistan’s cordial relations with Muslim countries into a greater promotion of tourism. He commended IRS for expanding its strategic focus to include promotion of tourism that could help build interfaith harmony and peace in the region.
Ambassador Jauhar Saleem, President of IRS, highlighted the significant global impact of tourism, contributing 10% to the world GDP. Not only leading developed countries such as the US and France generated hundreds of billions from tourism, but also emerging economies like Turkey, UAE and Thailand were earning more from tourism than Pakistan’s total exports. Recalling that Pakistan was a major tourist destination for western tourists in the 1960s and early 1970s, he underscored the need to rebuild ‘Brand Pakistan’ since tourism, trade and investment mostly flowed to countries with a befitting soft image. He also felt that unlike many countries in the region such as India, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Pakistan did not fittingly show case its tourism prowess internationally.
Ms. Sadaf Khalid Khan, CEO of WTTC, called for public-private collaboration to build international standards tourism infrastructure in Pakistan, while noting that Pakistan was recognized as the safest tourist destination worldwide in the 2023 UNWTO report.
Vice Admiral Ahmed Saeed, President of the National Institute of Maritime Affairs (NIMA), shared that 80 percent of global tourism was maritime and brought out Pakistan’s untapped maritime tourism potential. NIMA had identified key areas and made policy recommendations to the governments of Sindh and Balochistan, which were currently under review, he said and hoped that implementing these recommendations will significantly boost maritime tourism.
Mr. Augustine Christy Ruban, Deputy Ambassador of Sri Lanka, suggested that Pakistan and Sri Lanka could boost Buddhist tourism by attracting more visitors from Thailand, China, Korea, and Japan. He also recommended that Pakistan create a corridor, akin to the Kartarpur corridor, to enhance religious tourism along its coastal areas.
Mr. Rai AurangZeb Bhatti, CEO of ‘The Trust Era’ emphasized the need to attract Sikh Yatris, who number over 40 million globally. ‘Although, Pakistan is home to 110 gurdwaras, most Sikhs are only familiar with Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur’, he told the participants. He also suggested the use of advanced technology and AI to establish modern tourist facilitation centers.
Mr. Omair Khattak, General Manager, Department of Tourism, KPK, noted that insufficient coordination between provinces had hampered the development of a cohesive tourism policy, a problem further compounded by limited execution capacity. Mr. Ikram Fareed, from Green Tourism shared their plans to develop 100 resorts across the country, with the first phase featuring 17 resorts opening to public in a few months.
