CHITRAL, Feb 19: The snow-covered valleys of Chitral provide an ideal site for hosting winter games, but the potential is yet to be exploited to attract tourists.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, several stakeholders of tourism industry said that the snowy landscape of the  valleys of Madak Lusht, Sheshi Koh, Bumburate, Birir, Rumbur, Garam Chashma, Karimabad, Terich, Laspur and Yarkhun were ideal places for staging skating, ice hockey and other such competitions.

A tour operator, Fazlur Rehman, said that the main hurdle of Lowari Top had now been removed with the opening of Lowari tunnel, which offered an all-weather road to the district.

He said that ice skating game had the potential of boosting tourism in winter season and for this the tourism development corporations of both the provincial and federal governments should take steps to develop the sites.

Mr Rehman complained that the other tourist resorts of the neighbouring districts brimmed with tourists in the winter, but the government had been neglecting the tourism sector of Chitral.

Zahid Ali, another tour operator, said that the ice games were quite popular in the Kalash valley of Bumburate where people of all ages played ice hockey. He said that proper projection of sports activities in the valley could lure a good number of tourists to the area, as they could be attracted from Malam Jabba, Kalam and other resorts of the adjacent Swat district.

Syed Azam, a retired schoolteacher from Sheshi Koh valley, said that the snow sports were quite popular during the former rulers of Chitral. He recalled that snow skating competitions were held in the valley every winter and the princes used to watch the events and reward the players.

Rahimullah, a tour manager, proposed that the tourism department should hold a grand skating gala in Madak Lusht or Bumburate on the pattern of national winter games to attract tourists to the area.

“This will show the potential of the area to the outer world,” he said.  The closure of Lowari Top would no more be an obstacle to the non-locals to approach the district, he said and added that the journey through the newly-constructed Lowari tunnel to the area would itself prove to be an event of ecotourism.