ISLAMABAD: Pakistan loses lustre for foreigners as it has witnessed 31% decrease in foreign nationals’ inflow in the last six years.
The country was welcoming 2,254 foreigners daily in 2008 – a figure that reduced to 1,548 foreigners per day in 2013, according to official statistics prepared by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Integrated Border Management System (IBMS).
Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) also fears that the country will witness a further decrease in arrival of tourists due to ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb and worsening law and order situation in northern areas and Balochistan.
The FIA and IBMS earned Rs2.1 billion on account of foreign exchange through State Bank of Pakistan during this period, revealed official documents sent to the Cabinet Division (CD). The FIA forwarded these details to the CD in response to a written request by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Armaghan Subhani.
The figures – also available with The Express Tribune – show that over 44.5 million foreigners visited Pakistan from 2008 to June 2014. As many as 19,067 foreigners visited Pakistan on tourist visas from 2011 to 2013. The FIA and IBMS, however, did not provide the data of foreigners, who came on tourist visas from 2008 to 2010.
In 2013, overall 565,212 foreigners came to Pakistan while 822,800 foreign nationals visited the country in 2008. As many as 854,900 overseas visitors came to Pakistan in 2009, 718,832 in 2011 and 663,829 in 2012. Interestingly, Pakistan witnessed a record rise in arrival of foreigners in 2010 when an estimated 906,800 of them visited the country.
An estimated 2,928 of 198,201 foreign nationals came to Pakistan on tourist visa in the first six months of 2014, according to investigation agency’s figures.
Some 34,412 students came to Pakistan during the last four years. As many as 222 people came for religious purposes, 3,363 for medical purposes, 392 on official business, 4,165 on commercial visas and 398 foreigners came to Pakistan on non-official-delegation visas during this period.
Earlier this year, Ministry of Interior also officially informed Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa and political agents in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) that militants could target foreigners particularly those who are involved in various ongoing projects executed by the foreign companies.
Terrorism remained the biggest hurdle in the way of foreign tourists, observed MNA Armaghan Subhani, who also raised this issue on the floor of the house. “I’m not satisfied with the steps being taken for restoration of tourism in Pakistan so far,” he told The Express Tribune.
He hoped that friendly environment would be established soon after war against terrorism comes to an end. However, the MP did not explain why the government had failed to give incentives to foreign tourists to attract their large numbers to raise the country’s foreign exchange.
Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously stated that the drop in foreigners' arrival is 69%. The error is regretted.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2014.
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I used to visit Lahore and Karachi every couple of years but I am too scared to visit any part of Pakistan now.It is just too risky.No point in jeopardizing your life over few good scenes. No Thank You.
ET Please correct your maths :
drop is 100-69% = 31%.
69% is what remains as compared to 2008. (as per your numbers).