ISLAMABAD: US Ambassador Richard Olson, the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Shaukat Ullah Khan, joined business owners in Islamabad to celebrate the dramatic economic recovery of Swat Valley.

The significant outcome is due to efforts by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the KP provincial government, the KP Tourism Corporation, and business owners in the region. The hotels and fisheries previously damaged by conflicts and floods have increased their sales revenues from $454,000 in 2010 to $4.2 million in 2012, and generated more than 2,000 new jobs.

In wake of the damages that had devastated this area over the past five years in 2010, the US government and the government of Pakistan mutually decided to prioritise the recovery of Swat Valley’s economy. To help jump-start the economic revival, in 2010, Usaid joined the Provincial Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Settlement Authority to launch a Swat tourism rehabilitation program.

The United States provided $5.4 million to fund this initiative, whereas Usaid provided grants, technical assistance, and in-kind support, such as construction materials, supplies, and equipment to 22 fisheries and 239 hotels (which is more than half of all hotels in Swat Valley).

These efforts to revive Swat’s tourism industry have created jobs and enhanced incomes for the people of Swat Valley, Ambassador Olson said at the event.

The hotels now earn eight times more revenue than they did before the project began. The fisheries also earn twelve times more in comparison. Usaid estimates that the Swat Valley tourism industry will continue to grow in 2013, reaching $5 million in revenue.