ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a new visa policy for 175countries to promote tourism and investments in Pakistan.
The countries will get the facility of applying for an online visa. As perthe new visa policy, e-visa facility will initially be provided to fivecountries namely Turkey, China, Malaysia, United Kingdom and the UnitedArab Emirates. The citizens of these countries will be able to apply forPakistani visa via email at a $8 fee.
Jane Westwood who runs Wild Frontiers, one of the few UK operators to offertours of Pakistan, welcomed the changes.
“The old visa system was very convoluted,” she said. “Both travellers andtour operators needed to file numerous supporting documents and the wholeprocess took two weeks or more — now it can be wrapped up in a matter ofhours. It is also significantly cheaper, from £134 down to the equivalentof $60 [£46].”
Westwood also praised the loosening of the No Objection Certificate (NOC)system, under which travellers needed special permission to visit certainparts of Pakistan. These have been scrapped for all but a few borderregions, opening up parts of Kashmir, Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan.
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“It’s a beautiful country, and one of the most welcoming,” said Westwood.“The mountain scenery is staggering and it’s perfect for trekking, butthere are fascinating cities too. Islamabad is leafy and green, with wideboulevards; Lahore has a remarkable Old City, gardens, museums and forts —a real combination of old and new. Then there’s the Kalasha Valleys, whichhave a unique pagan culture, with traditional lifestyles, dress andfestivals.”
She added bookings for Pakistan tours have increased significantly duringthe past two or three years, an assertion that’s backed up by officialtourism statistics.
In 2015, Pakistan welcomed 563,000 overseas arrivals. That figure grew to965,000 in 2016, 1.6m in 2017 and 1.9m last year. Some of those will beexpats of Pakistani heritage visiting friends and family, but it issuggestive of a destination finally about to live up to the oft-appliedbilling of “tourism’s next big thing”.
