September 01, 2007	Saturday	Sha’aban 18, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: Because of increasing incidents of terrorism and unstable domestic environment and hurdles from administration the “visit Pakistan year” could not attract tourists.

This was stated by Senior Vice Chairman of Tourism Management Committee of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry Ishtiaq Qureshi in a statement issued on Friday.

He said that suicide attacks, kidnapping of foreigners and two weeks curfew in Islamabad and such other incidents had affected the tourism sector badly. He said that western media’s campaign against Pakistan and Islam had stopped their citizens from coming to Pakistan. He said that “visit Pakistan year” had turned out to be the “left Pakistan year” as a lot of Pakistanis were immigrated to other countries and thousands were queuing up to get the visas.

He suggested that government should take more measures to attract the foreigners because “we have natural beauty, rich cultural heritage especially Gandhara and Buddhist art and Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro and several buildings, fortes and mosques of Mughal era”.

He said Pakistan could earn a lot of foreign exchange through tourism sector. He emphasized that government should start campaign at electronic and print media to attract foreigners. Diplomats could also play vital role in attracting tourist. He criticised the Murree administration for poor show in completing the mega projects in time. He added that Murree still has no proper accommodation for foreigners. He said that due to insecure environment in tribal areas foreigners avoided to come to Pakistan.