Reviving tourism: Provision of facilities, security stressed

Pakistan has immense potential to attract tourists if the government gets serious in reviving the tourism industry.

ISLAMABAD:

Tourism in Pakistan can only be revived if the government provides a peaceful environment and paints an attractive picture of the scenic beauty of Pakistan’s mountain range for the world to see.

These views were expressed by mountain lovers and adventurists, who gathered here at a forum organised by the Asian Study Group on Thursday.

Saifuddin Ismailji, an international award winning photojournalist, presented a slide show highlighting the similarities of mountains in Pakistan and Switzerland.

He lamented that international tourists prefer Switzerland over Pakistan due to lack of facilities and law and order situation in Pakistan, even though the mountain ranges in both countries were similar in several ways.

However, the participants developed a common ground that Pakistan still had immense potential to attract tourists if the government was indeed serious in reviving the tourism industry.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2012.