KARACHI, April 18: Federal Tourism Minister Ghazi Gulab Jamal has underlined the need to promote domestic tourism first to attract foreign tourists.

“If we are shy to visit our tourism and cultural sites, we should not expect from others to contribute in our tourism industry,” he said while talking to media during his visit to Mohatta Palace here on Tuesday where an exhibition titled “Jewel in the Crown” was in progress.

The minister said that he was impressed to see collection of rare photographs and belongings especially of Muslim dynasties ruling the sub-continent. Around 5,800 items were on display. The exhibition would be open for public till April 30.

Earlier, the curator of Mohatta Palace, Nasreen Askari, took the minister to all the art galleries of the palace and briefed him about the historical background of the items exhibited there.

The minister appreciated her efforts and assured all possible support to further enhance the profile of this historical palace. He said Pakistan’s tourism industry was progressing very well over the last two years. More than 800,000 people visited the tourism sites during the year 2005 against 650,000 in 2004. In the year 2003, the number was only 48,000. In 2004, he added, Rs135 million were earned through tourism and this amount increased to Rs185 million in 2005.

The government had declared 2006 as the year of “Visit to Pakistan” and religious tourism would be the focus area, he said.

He said for rapid growth of tourism industry, the federal government had launched coordinated efforts with the provincial governments which included inter-provincial ministerial meetings on tourism. “The next meeting will be held in Quetta soon,” he said.

He said an international cultural/tourism event titled “Gandhara Week” was being organised especially for writers, historians and media people from all the states following Buddhism. It would start on April 24. Another mega event “Tourism Fair” would be held here, starting from May 23, he added. —APP