‘Community engagement vital for sustainable tourism’

Islamabad : Speaking to the participants of a national webinar on ‘Harnessing Sustainable Tourism Potential in the New Normal’ experts and the civil society representatives urged the federal and provincial governments to develop monitoring mechanisms for the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) before opening the tourism sector. We shall learn lessons from the previously opened sectors such as construction, trade centres and shops, and mosques where implementation of SOPs was hardly seen. Same or worse could be the case of opening the tourists’ destinations to what the recreation-starved mob is waiting for.

They said the opening of the tourism sector is imperative to contribute to revive the economy from grassroots level to the national. SOPs should be laid down for a well-monitored limited opening of the sector as a test case. Awareness raising on the new normal shall be the top priority while the SOPs monitoring should be done by the teams comprising officials of the district governments, police and civil society reps. Violators shall be punished strictly.

The national webinar was organized by the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTNTV on Saturday. It was hosted and conducted by Devcom-Pakistan Director Munir Ahmed. The speakers included Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Chairperson of the Special Committee of the Pakistan Tourism Board Aftab ur Rehman Rana, Senior Private Sector Specialist (Tourism) with the World Bank Group Kiran Afzal, Özye in University (Istanbul) Hospitality and Tourism Business Management student Shaaref Munir, Tourism Development Corporation Punjab (TDCP) Managing Director Tanveer Jabbar, Sindh Tourism Department Deputy Director Murtaza Daudpota, maritime tourism expert with National Institute of Maritime Affairs (NIMA) Cdr Muhammad Akhtar, De Las Gul chief executive and former MPA and Minister for Women Development Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Meraj Hamayun Khan, Tourism department Gilgit-Baltistan director Iqbal Hussain, Baltistan Association of Tour Operators (BATO) chairman Muhammad Iqbal, Environmentalist from Quetta Dr Nilofar Jamil, Panoramic Tours chief executive Tahir Imran and Hashoo Foundation chief executive Ayesha Khan.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed in a statement said that we need to think about off the cuff strategies to attract international tourism. Our wonderful desserts, marines and coastal parts and high mountains could play centre of attraction. But unfortunately we cannot learn towards their recreational needs. He however urged the need to have communities’ engagement in the implementation of SOPs after the tourism sector is opened.