Sustainable Tourism Potential and Strategies for Development as An Industry in Pakistan. Factors Effecting Tourism

Abstract

Pakistan is home to about 216 million people and most of the population is earning less than 10 $ a day. Pakistan, like any other beautiful European country, is a huge market for tourism as it offers not only the beauty of nature but also the diversity of cultures. In fact, tourism is the most profitable and entrepreneurial business, especially for people living in mountainous areas as it creates new jobs and reduces unemployment for them. But unfortunately, the number of tourists visiting Pakistan fluctuates from year to year.Therefore, the aim of my thesis is to find out the positive and negative factors affecting the tourism industry in Pakistan, to compare the performance of our tourism industry with some potential neighboring countries to find out where Pakistan stands and in terms of competition, it lacks, to find out the role of the government in improving this industry and to suggest some possible strategies for improving this industry.The Primary data was collected from domestic and international tourists through interviews, and survey questionnaires inside and outside the country in 2019 when I was in Pakistan and data collected from tourist operator was done there. The Secondary data was collected from my personal visit to PTDC and the Ministry of Tourism in 2019. Estimated results have reprimanded the fact that poor access, development, weakness, margins and the country's persistent social / political problems are the factors that have reduced the proportion of tourist visits to Pakistan. Secondly, the government of Pakistan has also failed to implement policies and strategies that could have been a catalyst for the tourism industry. The conclusion drawn from the collected data is that Pakistan's tourism industry fluctuates greatly in the alternate years, ie the reasons for this decline from 2005 to 2016 are linked to the country's political and social problems and Lack of active participation Tourism officials. Domestic and international tourists love the nature, culture, and food of Pakistan and 80% of them want to travel around Pakistan but unfortunately, due to insurgency and unavailability of facilities their travel rate Decreased. But the recent year from 2017-2019 Pakistan new government take immediate steps and Pakistan tourism industry growth have been increase in recent years. But still, we are back behind in tourism industry our neighbors’ countries like China and India where tourism industry having more and more powerful every year.My suggestions for the development of this industry are that governments should take the tourism industry seriously and improve the tourism infrastructure, overcome the insurgency in the country as soon as possible, and strengthen relations with the outside world. Establish, present image, positive image of Pakistan through media etc. so that the status and quality of Pakistan's tourism industry can be improved globally.Research limitations encountered during data collection include limited information sharing by PTDC and the Ministry of Tourism as their data is not updated properly. Secondly, since 2020 world suffer from COVID-19 and there are many restrictions and limitations behind the scene like no one could travel due to COVID. So, I used the idea of conducting a survey online through helping social media groups and online survey. The important aspect or value of this research is that it has considered almost all the important factors affecting the tourism industry in terms of potential tourists and finally has come up with some suggestions that will make the current deterioration of this industry worse Can improve the situation the required words.