LAHORE: To mark the International Day of Tourism happening on Tuesday (today), the Punjab Tourism Department held a discussion forum in which renowned speakers spoke about the prevalent problems and their possible suggestions for improvement.

The panel discussion was held under the themes decided by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The foremost and main theme was ‘Rethinking Tourism’ in the context of the post-Covid era world, in which panellists Prof Sajida Vandal, Quratul Ain (Principal of the ITHM, Faisalabad),. Asim Rizwan (Lahore Museum), Syed Yousaf Rizvi (travel and tourism expert) and Kiran Afzal (World Bank) discussed the ways and means to improve the travel and tourism industry.

The second theme was “Tourism we want’ on which Prof Dr Fouzia Qureshi (architect), Umar Hussain (hospitality expert), Anees Iqbal (travel and tourism expert) and Ahtesham Chaudhry (research officer) spoke.

Dr Qureshi stressed the need to involve the private sector in the industry to boost economic activity and government efforts to maximize and speed up the work. Umar said that there should be uniformity in structures and buildings in the northern areas of Pakistan. The haphazard situation in Murree needs to be properly governed, and the people or tourists should be provided space for camping and activities. Mr Iqbal stressed the need to promote religious and heritage sites and said that there are thousands of Buddhism places in the country.

“We need to look into them and make them sustainable to attract religious tourists around the world. Pakistan has the birthplace of the world’s largest religions like Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism,” he said.

Ehtesham Chaudhry called heritage places the drivers of economic activity. He said the tour of Pakistan and Punjab is incomplete without its heritage.

The third session, themed “A new governance for recovery”, was attended by panellists Kamran Lashari (Walled City Authority), Habibur Rehman Gilani (chairman of the ETPB), Amir Altaf (hospitality expert), Umar Mukhtar (governance expert), Nafees Ahmed (archaeologist) and Alizay Saba (Lahore Museum).

Mr Lashari said that multiple authorities in a single place sometimes become a hurdle to work. Departments need to work in cooperation, but unfortunately, this is not the case. Mr Gilani said tourism is based on three main things: site development, tourists facilitation and marketing. He said that the department needs capacity building, institutional mechanisms and proper funding to operate.

Mr Altaf urged the need to revive festivals and events, such as Basant, horse and cattle shows and various other festivals that used to attract many domestic and international tourists here.

Mr Mukhtar answered the question regarding governance or policies that we need to promote our culture and heritage at city levels.

Tourism Secretary Ehsan Bhutta thanked and appreciated the panellists and said that the department would definitely consider all the suggestions given by the experts.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2022