Tourism development in Pakistan should be taken seriously. It is a globally a recognized fact that revenue generated through tourism activity has yielded more than any other sector of business. If we compare revenue engendered by trade to the tourism earnings globally, the latter are at the top.
Tourism development in Pakistan should be taken seriously. It is a globally a recognized fact that revenue generated through tourism activity has yielded more than any other sector of business. If we compare revenue engendered by trade to the tourism earnings globally, the latter are at the top.
We have never taken this revenue generating segment of business conscientiously, in spite of the known fact that our country has some of the most beautiful sites, mountains, lakes, beaches, water-sports, and archeological sites.
Tourism stands on the verge of coming of age and we must strive to make Pakistan a tourists’ destination; with the influx of tourists inevitably changing the entire outlook of our country. It will create employment, promote cottage industry and above all showcase Pakistan. If this situation is analyzed at a micro level even poverty can easily be eradicated.
Many developing countries consider tourism to be the most important ingredient for economic progress and poverty reduction. However, it is also clear that the link between tourism and economic growth and poverty reduction, is not routine, it needs to be routed within its scope. Much depends on whether tourism generates employment opportunities, creates linkages – in particular with agriculture and service-providing sectors – and stimulates the development of basic infrastructure through the construction of roads, ports, and airport facilities and the provision of financial services from which the economy as a whole can benefit.
It also depends on whether the development of tourism is guided by a national strategy comprising policy, regulatory, and institutional frameworks with sufficient incentives to the stakeholders of this industry to stimulate the development of supply capacity in national markets.
Equally important is the extent to which the national strategy is limited financially, which appears to be a perennial problem in many developing countries, and efforts are required to be made to minimise the adverse impact of tourism on the environment and on cultural heritage.
In the recent past the tourism Industry of Asia Pacific countries has shown a trend of innovation in transportation technologies, the role of digital technologies, particularly of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and its influence on tourism has been to a great extent. While policy changes in air transport, in the midst of deregulation, have been the principal factor behind the democratisation of travel, technological advances in fuel efficient carriers capable of flying non-stop over long distances have contributed equally good to travel facilitation offering better connectivity.
These policy changes and innovations originated in America and Europe but gradually spread to Asia. Asia has held its own in technological innovations and applications in rail travel with Japan leading the way for half-a-century through its iconic Shinkansen train. China has continued to make progress with high-speed trains, which has boosted domestic tourism. Technological innovations in motor vehicles (electric cars), cruise ship designs, and on-demand transportation along with the rapid growth of low-cost carriers have all shaped Asia Pacific tourism in recent years.
It must be noted that Asia and the Pacific account for 30 percent of the world’s international tourism receipts.
The success of inbound tourism in Asia and the Pacific is also reflected in the growth of international tourism receipts. The region earned $367 billion in tourism receipts in 2016, or 30 percent of the world total, a share that has almost doubled since 2000 (from 17 percent). Asia’s share of receipts is above its share of world arrivals (25 percent) indicating that tourism spending per trip in the region exceeds the world average.
In 2016, international tourism receipts in Asia increased by 5 percent in real terms (local currencies at constant prices), with particularly strong results in Oceania and South-East Asia (both more than 10 percent). Australia and Thailand led the growth in those sub-regions respectively. Results were fuelled by strong intra-regional demand, mostly from top source markets like China, Republic of Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, China. In South Asia, receipts increased 7 percent last year, while in North-East Asia they were flat, partly due to the stronger currencies of Hong Kong, China, and Macao, which appreciated compared to others in the region. Weaker results in Taiwan Province of China, also weighed down on the sub-region’s total.
Looking at individual destinations, Thailand is the top tourism earner in Asia and the Pacific, with $50 billion earned in 2016, up 15 percent from 2015 and following several years of double-digit growth. Thailand is also the world’s 3rd largest earner after climbing two places in 2016.
China is the number two earner in Asia and number four in the world, with receipts totaling $44 billion last year, after a 5 percent increase. Hong Kong, China, ranks third in the region and ninth in the world, with a figure of $33 billion in receipts. These facts have been taken from United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) last year’s report.
These are a few patterns showing how the rest of the world is capitalising this important revenue generating platform. It is about time that we changed our attitude.
It is imperative to make tourism more sustainable so that it can contribute immensely for the developing countries? In this regard sustainable development objectives are still a challenge that requires urgent attention, more specifically for a country like Pakistan, where some other factors are also adversely affecting the industry. In the recent past we have seen some countries had been instrumental in destabilising all avenues of growth of our country, otherwise our country could have yielded massive progress economically.
Unfortunately our country has been used for nurturing terrorism and other illegal activities and for these activities few influential people within our country were also used for their personal gains, these so-called countries gushed huge funding for making Pakistan crumpled.
In order to get into the stream of activating this important segment of revenue generating terrain, the leadership will have to make up a mindset on the following norms:
Seriousness: It is very important that even before going ahead with such a plan, seriousness needs to be given top priority with complete determination, unless otherwise, all efforts towards this will be in futility.
Structural Change: A major structural change has to be taken, the existing law related to hotels, restaurants, and tour operators needs to be totally scrapped, and a new laws/act has to be formulated. The current law is more bureaucratic and can provoke corruption.
Hence new law/act should be formulated incorporating an independent council comprising representatives from private sector -business stakeholders and the representative of the Ministry of Tourism having a composition of 90 percent private and 10 percent government sector.
The private representatives will come through elections for a term of 5 years. The government representative will be nominated by the government and should be not less than the level of deputy secretary. This council is to be headed by the private sector representative. It is also recommended that besides the council, which will be on a national level, each province should have a tourism board, again this should have the similar composition of representation from the private sector and the government.
A National Tourism Policy needs to be evolved, which can act as a guideline of a national strategic policy, comprising regulatory and institutional frameworks, covering all aspects of tourism, including and not limited to the following:
1) For the growth of tourism, based on the projected influx of the travels/ tourist, there will be a need to motivate the private sector to build more hotels on international standards all over Pakistan, especially in the northern parts. The private sector, having previous experience of this Industry, should be encouraged first; however, other interested companies from business community within Pakistan or international companies can also be inculcated for this development.
In order to encourage these investors, the National Tourism policy should comprise of some benefits like subsidies and tax relief on imports of machineries of equipments and material. The government needs to identify sites and make allotments for building hotels across Pakistan.
2) The current and the upcoming hotels, should be encouraged for capitalising on their investment, hence the overall taxation system needs to be reviewed in terms of Central Excise Duty/ Federal Tax and the Provincial Bed Tax, the Tax/Duty on imports, and the electricity tariff for the hotels.
3) The hotel room rates should be based on a criterion, such as type of hotel, location of the hotel and the classification of the hotel and should maintain the rates as compared to the ones offered internationally. These rates are to be monitor by the council and the provincial boards.
4) In Pakistan, the foreign currency transactions and exchange methodology is very dubious currently, as there is no control over these transactions. Hence in order to have a grip on it and instant retrieval of information of the total receipts under the tourism activities, it very important that the country must have strict rules and regulations. State Bank of Pakistan or any other monitoring cell should be formed for ensuring total compliance of the law for this important foreign exchange generating avenues.
5) Serving of liquor by the hotels to the non-Muslim travelers should be revisited for more simplified rules and regulations.
6) The National Tourism Policy should encompass sufficient incentives for the stakeholders of the industry, to stimulate the development of supply capacity in national and international markets.
Image Building:
1) The Ministry of Tourism should develop image building plans to create awareness among the tourists globally to change their wrong perceptions regarding Pakistan, as a lot of people worldwide have an impression that we have a lot of commotion and lawlessness.
2) The Ministry of Tourism should market/advertise globally about our tourist sites like mountains, lakes, ocean, monuments, heritage architecture from Mughal erea, archeological sites such as Mohenjo Daro, Harappa and Indus Valley Civilization sites. Efforts need to be made to develop documentaries on these tourist attraction sites and these documentary films be shown globally in the respective local media of countries/cities where our embassies and consulates are located.
3) These tourist attraction sites should also be advertised via different marketing media such as hoardings and local transit transportation vehicles, in counties with potential tourists.
4) It should be made obligatory for all Pakistani missions abroad to promote Pakistan in every way and manner. The missions should provide printed material of different tourist attraction sites, arrange seminars, and exhibitions to disseminate information about our country’s culture, heritage, and the places to visit in Pakistan.
5) Ministry of Tourism should also arrange international tour operators’ exhibition, where operators from around the globe should be invited to participate to see Pakistan as a world tourist destination. This should be an annual feature for years to come. The ministry should also occasionally arrange to get some global giants amongst the tour operators for familiarisation trips of Pakistan. Such proactive events can stimulate the influx of international tourists into the country.
Pakistan currently is under the grip of an international conspiracy, as some of the countries are extending its maximum resources to undermine our efforts towards progress. Pakistan has to do a lot to fight back.
First and the foremost, its prime responsibility will be to maintain the law and order situation, especially for the travelers coming into Pakistan, for their safety and security. Some of the Asia Pacific countries have also formed tourist law enforcement agencies for the safety and security of the visitors.
Hence, for the larger interest of sustainable tourism development of Pakistan, we should also follow these in the footsteps of countries that have succeeded in turning their tourism industry into an engine of revenue generation.
We all know the wealth hidden behind this important area of development. Unfortunately, we always come up with great plans for developing tourism sector, but they never get accomplished as our priorities keep on changing. It is time that we took bold steps with conviction and made the most of our countries natural scenic beauty.
The writer is former chairman of Pakistan Hotels Association
