Poverty alleviation and job creation are two major issues of Pakistan’s socio-economic problems. Every government promises to pursue these issues but her priorities change soon after coming into power. In this short piece of writing we try to explore the scope of tourism, the benefits related to this industry and how this can help us to address the above mentioned issues and also how it can uplift life standards of people.
Tourism has been acknowledged as one of the major source of revenue generation. It is identified as one major industry for development through foreign exchange earnings and a big source of direct and indirect employment. It contributes 5 percent of the world’s GDP and is highly helpful in poverty alleviation. Today, the business volume of tourism equals or even surpasses that of oil exports, ?food products or automobiles. It has become one of the major players in ?international commerce, and represents at the same time one of the main income ?sources for many developing countries.
Tourism industry is recognised in many developing and least developed countries as the most viable and sustainable economic development option, and in some countries, the main source of foreign exchange earnings. It is the most helpful sector through which income trickles down to different groups of the society and, if it is managed with a strong focus on poverty alleviation, it can directly benefit the poorer groups through employment of local people in tourism enterprises, goods and services provided to tourists, or the running of small and community-based enterprises, etc.
According to analysts any country with some common features such as warm climate, rich cultural heritage, inspiring landscapes and abundant biodiversity has great value and importance for tourism. Pakistan is beautiful beyond these standards. Its natural beauty is un-matched. It has world’s most beautiful places for visit, especially at its best in northern areas of Pakistan and Kashmir region. This part of the country is famous all around the world because of sky high mountains, lush green valleys, mighty rivers, beautiful lakes, and amazing wildlife. There are several mountain peaks over 7000m, which attracts adventurers and mountaineers from around the world. The Paradise on Earth ‘Neelum Valley’ Mini Switzerland ‘Swat Valley’ and Mountain Kingdom ‘Hunza valley’ are the major tourist attractions. The country's other attraction range from the ruin of the Indus Valley Civilisation such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Taxila, to the Himalayan hill stations, which attract those. This part of country has many old fortresses, ancient architecture.
The romance of the historic Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is timeless and legendary. Similarly, Punjab province has the site of Alexander's battle on the Jhelum River and the historic city Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital, with many examples of Mughal architecture such as Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir and the Lahore Fort. In other words you can say Pakistan is a tourist heaven. Before the Global economic crisis Pakistan received more than 500,000 tourists annually. However, this number drastically decreased since 2008 due to instability in the country and the propaganda against Pakistan as unsafe country and dangerous to visit.
We have ‘Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation’ which is not playing an active role. The government should take initiatives to revive this department. Building and maintaining roads and air networks to meet international standards and to provide maximum facilities at tourism sites should be of prime importance. The more human resource and providing more facilities will empower this feeble industry. Advertising campaigns need to attract tourist by developing holiday packages. It will attract tourists from within the country and also encourage foreign tourists.
Developing tourism will generate lot of employment opportunities. Most of these jobs are potentially accessible to the poor as they require relatively few skills and little investment. Lot of income can be generated through part time jobs and other activities related to it. Additionally, there are many activities which particularly suit to women and young people. It is also a big source of developing cottage industry. There are so many different activities and inputs make up the tourism product, which has a large and diversified supply chain, spending by tourists can benefit a wide range of sectors such as agriculture, handicrafts, transport and other services. Additional rounds of spending by those people whose income is supported by tourism spread the economic benefit further.
The author is a freelance writer based in Lahore and one can reach by email:hammadahmad1971@gmail.com