State minister calls for promoting religious tourism in KP

MINGORA: Minister of State and Chairman of Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Gandhara Tourism Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani on Wednesday called for promoting religious tourism in Swat and other areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to promote inter-faith harmony and generate revenue.

During his two-day visit to the Buddhist archaeological sites, located in the Swat valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with diplomats from Germany and Nepal, he said that people of Swat were very hospitable and wanted promotion of tourism and development in the area.

The minister said there were a number of Buddhist heritage sites in Swat and other parts of KP and if preserved and developed properly, these could attract foreign tourists and help generate huge revenue.

He said that these sites of Buddha in Swat and other areas of KP were considered holy places by devotees of Buddhists and they wanted to visit these places.

The minister said Swat is known as mini-Switzerland due to its natural beauty and foreign tourists wanted to come and invest in the area, adding that there was a need to improve the existing tourism policy to facilitate the foreign tourists.

Head of Communication and Cultural Affairs, German Embassy Dorota Berezicki, expressed her happiness and said that Swat was a peaceful place and there was no security risk for local or foreign tourists.

She said the foreign tourists should witness the mesmerizing beauty of Swat valley, especially the Buddhist heritage.

Ambassador of Nepal Tapas Adhikari said that people know little about the importance of this land, adding proper media projection and promotion of religious tourism could portray a strong image of the country besides promoting tourism.

He said that the Swat valley had a lot of potential in religious tourism and the government of Pakistan should provide facilities to foreigners, especially devotees of Buddah.

Earlier, In charge Sub Regional Office of Archaeology in Malakand, Nawazuddin, briefed the delegation about heritage sites of Bazira, Shigardar Stupa, Ghelegay Buddhist monuments, museum and other close vicinity sites.