Lahore: Tourism industry in Pakistan has immensely been affected due to inflation, unemployment and less concern of the government in solving the issues. The 9/11 attack had also been a big set back for the tourism industry as the percentage of foreign visitors had declined from 20 % to 3 % only.
Tourism is considered as the third main industry globally. Many of the countries economies depend on this sector. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, Dubai, Maldives and Holland are the few countries.
Foreign propaganda of making Pakistan the hub of suicide attacks and violence after the 9/11 attack has stopped foreign visitors to pay visit to Pakistan especially the northern areas. The tourism contributes largely to the nation’s foreign exchange earning.
Before the event of 9/11 foreign people used to pay visits to the historical and tourists points and others also came for business purpose, out of which mostly owned firms and organisations.
Meanwhile the domestic tourism has also suffered immensely due to improper facilities and inflation.”Even lower middle class people cannot make access to Murree”.
Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) MD Mir Shahjahan Khetran said that Pakistan received less than one million foreign tourists in 2010 and earned $306 million. Over 200,000 tourists were from the South Asian region. However, no figures of 2011 and 2012 season are available.
Total of 27887 Chinese tourists visited Pakistan in 2010. A majority of the Chinese visited Pakistan either for official purpose or for attending business meetings.
Pakistan has a true potential for being a successful tourist country.But our politics are only interested in filling there pockets and they have no interest with the betterment of this country. If governments spend on tourism only 50% of what they actually should, there is no reason Pakistan wouldn’t become a successful tourist country.