Ecotourism policy needed to protect tourist sites

Experts at a conference on Thursday underlined the need for a dedicated ecotourism policy for protecting cultural and biological diversity of picturesque tourist attractions across the country.

Massive sensitisation of all the stakeholders on ecotourism was imperative to purge the tourist attractions of haphazard constructions, posing serious threat to the eco-system of those places, National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) Member Aftab Rana stressed at a one-day seminar.

The conference titled Ecotourism for Rural Economy was arranged by Akhtar Hameed Khan National Centre for Rural Development (AHKNCRD) in collaboration with African-Asian Rural Development Organisation (AARDO).

Rana said mass tourism was found to augment water consumption, litter and waste, and air pollution at major tourist resorts of the northern areas.

Intensive and coordinated efforts were vital to promote environment conversion and job creation in the areas, attracting domestic and foreign tourists.

He said there was need to draw difference between conventional and ecotourism so that specific initiatives could be taken to bring sustainability to the sector by diversifying the local economies of tourism-specific areas.

The NTCB member said the country had enormous potential of ecotourism that was needed to be exploited for development of rural economies and uplift of locals' living standards.

"Pakistan is mainly a rural country and tourism can greatly contribute for socio-economic development of those areas which are otherwise neglected," he remarked.

Drive for Economic and Environment Development Director Muhammad Junaid Ghauri asked the government to introduce a separate eco-tourism policy to identify environmental consequences, emanating from increased tourism activities across the country.

He said mass tourism was a major challenge to cope with at the moment as it resulted in massive hotels constructions, deprivation of locals from financial benefits and waste generation at prominent tourist destinations.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2020.