The reasons why tourism is underdeveloped in Pakistan by Hassan Qadri

Tourism is an important part of a nation’s economy, provided it has a history of tradition and culture, or is simply bestowed with natural beauty. Pakistan is such a country; abundant in archeological cultural heritage as well as unspoiled natural beauty. But unfortunately, tourism is still very underdeveloped, a few reasons for which are discussed below.

Terrorism has impeded growth in nearly every department of Pakistan, including tourism. Most tourists avoid the country because of the impending dangers from enterprises involved in terrorism. Media reports have not helped the cause to say the least, their reports depict that the country has been overrun by insurgents, which is of course a spurious suggestion.

Lack of facilities is another issue. Most of the sights worth seeing are located in uninhibited and far off places of the country, consequently, there is next to no infrastructure there let alone five star hotels and the like. The situation tends to be even worse in winter when the weather becomes hostile, to add to the misery one could not find hot water or sometimes no water at all!       

  

Language is also one of the challenges a tourist has to face here in Pakistan. Apart from the national language Urdu, there are more than a dozen more languages that are spoken in different areas of the country, and most of them are totally different from each other. Moreover, there is no specific department preserved for interpreters and what freelancers are available can be counted on fingertips. And it is enormously difficult for a tourist to hire an interpreter eloquent in all the relevant languages, as the use of internet is not very popular among them. Try looking up for one on the internet if you will!

Terrorism has prevented Pakistan from exploiting its full capacity as far as tourism is concerned; the insidious dearth in facilities as well as difference of language is also a problem, at least for a prospective tourist. Concrete steps are a need of the hour, government as well as the private establishments should take keen interest in dealing with this precarious situation, so that the country may have a thriving economy.