PESHAWAR: The recently launched ‘tourism growth strategy’ has asked for replacing army checkposts with that of police and withdrawal of security forces from civil installations for developing tourism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The ‘vision document for tourism sector of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2025’ puts emphasis on maintaining peace and security as ‘the first and foremost’ requirement for promoting tourism in the province.
In this respect, it recommends that security forces should initiate the process of vacating civil installations and police checkposts should slowly replace army checkpoints.
It also asks for making special security arrangements for tourist groups visiting archaeological sites. The provincial government has also been recommended to consider the option of having police in civilian clothes.
The vision document, prepared under an initiative of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry with active involvement of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Corporation, identifies the sector with vast potential to trigger economic growth and create jobs across the province by 2025.
It notes that the province earned Rs974 million in 2009 on account of foreign tourism receipts. “When seen in the perspective of present uncertain security situation, the figure looks to be pretty healthy,” contains the vision document, emphasising the need for improved security in the province to help attract domestic and foreign tourists.
Another parameter to gauge the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tourism sector’s potential, the growth strategy points out the total economic impact of Rs11.648 billion it made to the provincial economy in 2008-09, when some of the richest tourism places like Swat were experiencing militancy.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tourism sector, points out the vision document, offers tremendous opportunity for economic development. “Even in the present state of conflict and unrest in the region, the sector is contributing to support the troubled local economy,” it says.
It recommends two-pronged strategy for bringing tourism potential under utilisation, focusing more on domestic tourists in the shorter term and projecting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa abroad as part of a long term strategy to attract foreign tourists.
The province, according to the federal government’s figures used in the vision document, received a total of 8.8 million domestic tourists in 2009 that makes 19 per cent of the total domestic tourists of 46.7 million nationally.
The strategy asks for projecting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a tourism brand internationally along with Pakistan through intelligent marketing and highlighting its soft image.
Other than improved security and establishing the province as an international tourism brand, the vision document asks for ensuring an enabling business environment in the province, investment in infrastructure, better service delivery, greater investment in human resource development, and public-private partnership to benefit from growing business opportunities.
Improving existing road network in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, building new access roads to tourist towns to attract domestic and foreign tourists, improving electricity supply and transportation facilities to the areas with vast tourism potential have been described as most important to attract domestic and foreign tourists to serene valleys.
“Government’s role in tourism should be limited to facilitation and regulation as it should formulate a facilitative policy for private sector to operate, set standards and monitor the implementation of the rules and regulations,” contains the vision document.
In this respect, it recommends institutional and regulatory reforms bringing about improvements in the outdated laws governing the tourism sector. It envisages transferring the control of the government owned tourism related commercial ventures to private sector.
Besides, the strategy seeks enforcement of standards and introduction of certifications for hotels, tourist guides, transporters and tour operators to ensure quality services to domestic and foreign tourists alike.
The strategy identifies Swat, Kaghan, Chitral, Dir, Abbottabad and Galyat, Peshawar and its surroundings, Khyber Pass and its surrounding areas and Kohistan region along Karakoram Highway as areas with vast potential of attracting domestic and foreign tourists.