PAKISTAN is working tirelessly to create a vibrant tourism sector. In the next month, two international symposiums are being held to highlight Pakistan’s tourism potential. It is impressive to note that the players focused in the promotion are myriad and a collective effort is emerging comprising of traditional and non-traditional players.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the lead of Imran Siddiqui, supported by his Secretary and Minister, is organizing a symposium next week titled “From Gandhara to the World”. It is bringing together academics, monks and experts to discuss two aspects of Gandhara – Heritage and Pilgrimage. There will be many speakers at this event, including myself, who will speak on the various aspects of tourism, but that is only relatively important. What is important is that for the past decade that I have been involved in the promotion of the Pakistan’s Gandharan heritage, this is the first symposium which specifically uses the term “pilgrimage” and has a dedicated session on this category of tourists. This cannot be overstated.
Additionally, in June, PTDC and World Bank will be holding another symposium “Pakistan Travel & Tourism Symposium 2024”. This is the brain child of Aftab-ur-Rahman Rana, MD PTDC. This event is very far-reaching and the sessions cover almost all aspects of the tourism sector value chain – aviation, transportation, visa facilitation, investment, responsible tourism, tourism diversification, perception building, etc. A sectoral value chain model for tourism is the need of the time and this is arguably the first symposium that will discuss all the components which need to be addressed to create a vibrant tourism sector.
It is welcoming to see a new vision and maturity rising in our government functionaries for the promotion of tourism in Pakistan. They are now focusing on specific tourists, while also reviewing all hindrances to the tourism sector. Tourism is a complex phenomenon and countries that have focused on it have tried to find their particular niche. In fact, tourism is so complex that my research shows that there are more than 22 areas of tourism, namely; adventure, cultural, benefit, business, medical, eco, agro, birth, education, cruise, disaster, eno, recreation, escorted, religious, sport, dark, beach, rural, domestic, wildlife, and day visitors. Which category should Pakistan appeal to? What number of tourists can Pakistan attract? What is the economic consequence for Pakistan? Let us look into it.
Rather than losing the forest from the trees by evaluating the 22 categories, let us focus on four categories of tourists essential for Pakistan; nature and beauty, adventure, heritage and pilgrimage. All four have potential and Pakistan has been rising in its world ranking in these categories. Having said that, it is easy to prove that the last category will dwarf the other categories. This category is religious tourism, specifically Buddhist pilgrims. So as not to ignore the categories of nature tourism, adventure tourism and heritage tourism, let us first discuss these three.
In the area of nature and adventure tourism, Pakistan has been marketing the iconic northern areas for decades. Pakistan was the “Best Holiday Destination 2020” and “third-highest potential adventure destination for 2020” (Conde Nast Traveller), and “tourist’s next big thing” (Lonely Planet 2010). All welcome titles. However, these accolades and efforts have not translated to substantial success. In fact, to quote one figure from the GB government, 11,000 tourists visited the area in 2023. For Pakistan, every tourist counts, but this is pittance. Apparently, there are limits to Pakistan’s attraction for nature and adventure tourists which are perhaps linked to misperceptions about safety and Pakistan being a “dry” nation. Thus, this category of tourists alone cannot translate to a vibrant and multi-billion dollar sector.
World heritage tourists can be in large numbers. These are typically the tourists who have a bucket-list of world heritage sites to visit, usually are more advanced in age and more affluent. India gets 20 million tourists annually and India World Heritage sites act as catalysts. India has 42 sites on the UNESCO list with 6 tentative sites. In comparison, Pakistan has only 6 sites on the UNESCO list with 26 in the tentative list. If Pakistan can get these 26 sites approved by UNESCO, it can emerge as a major destination for heritage-site tourists, but world bureaucracies move slowly.
Foregoing paragraphs show the limitations in potential for the first three categories of tourists. Let us now delve into the category with the most potential; religious tourism. For the sake of brevity, let us focus on Gandhara based tourism. Gandharan region became the centre of Buddhism for centuries, was visited by Lord Buddha in past lives (as per legend) and was the birth place of the Second Buddha, Guru Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche. Some say that Gandhara is to Buddhist what Mecca and Medina is to Muslims. With this reverence, and considering that there are more than 500 million Buddhists in the world, Pakistan should focus on attracting one percent of the Buddhist as tourists. These would number five million pilgrims. Each pilgrim will typically spend 14 days visiting the innumerable sites of Gandhara in the KP, Punjab and GB.
Considering the average cost of $200 per day for expenses per pilgrim (food, airfare, local transportation, lodging and other expenses), Pakistan would earn $14 billion. That is ten folds what Pakistan earned last year from the tourism sector at $1.3 billion. We can learn from Saudi Arabia and in a unique way, make religious pilgrims the future for Pakistan’s tourism sector.
—The writer is a former Senior Advisor to the Government
