ISLAMABAD – A recent report published in the English newspaper Telegraphlinkhaspainted quite a promising picture regarding Pakistan’s prospects ofbecoming a global tourism player.
It starts with Lonely Planet’s description of Pakistan in its first evertravel guide of 1973, stating, “If dope is what you want then you are goingto the right place – hash and grass can be found just about everywhere.”
Reflecting on 1973’s Pakistan, the report presents the country as one ofthe best travel destinations. It also laments the period afterward that ledto the country’s disappearance from the list of most coveted countries fortravel.
The author, Oliver Smith, further suggests that the country is on its wayto becoming ‘something special’ again. He accredits this improvement to theefforts of Pakistan’s current government.New Visa Regime
Commending Prime Minister Imran Khan’s initiative of rolling out the easyvisa policy, he says the premier’s “policy has so far extended to tweetingpictures of the country’s beaches and snow-capped mountains, hosting atwo-day tourism summit last week, and, most significantly, cutting the redtape and entry requirements that have the potential to put off visitors.”
The report further appreciates that now, the residents of the UK, Turkey,China, Malaysia, and UAE can benefit from a new online e-visa system whilemost restrictions on mobility within the country have been removed.
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The article also cited Jane Westwood of Wild frontiers, one of the UK touroperators to Pakistan. Westwood also appreciated the new changes in thevisa regime. She said that the new visa regime “is also significantlycheaper, from £134 down to the equivalent of $60 [£46].”
Westwood also said that bookings for Pakistan tours have risen drasticallyin the past two or three years. In 2015, Pakistan received 563,000 overseasarrivals while in 2016, the figure rose to 965,000. The number of touristscoming to Pakistan kept growing, making it 1.6 million in 2017 and 1.9million in 2018.
The report further mentioned that both Portugal and France relaxed theirtravel advice on Pakistan last year. It also underlined that the arrival ofBritish Airways in the country is also a good start. It termed Pakistan’spotential for growth in tourism as ‘almost limitless’.
