Lahore: Due to political instability and inflation in the country, the tourism sector is being badly affected, a large number of tour operators have closed their business, the caretaker government has withheld development funds for tourism projects.
The Punjab Tourism Department recently organized important events in Lahore with the aim of highlighting the tourism and cultural heritage of Punjab and promoting tourism.
People related to the tourism sector say that the tourism sector has been badly affected due to political instability, inflation and law and order situation in the country.
Rao Abdul Rahman, a resident of Model Town Lahore, is fond of tourism. Every year he goes to different parts of the country with his friends for fun but this year he had to cancel his fun trip.
Rao Abdul Rehman said that he used to make programs with a few friends. A one-week leisure trip used to cost up to three lakh rupees. Those eight friends used to bear this expense easily, but this year the estimated expenditure was more than four lakh rupees. For this reason, they have canceled their annual tour.
Like Rao Abdul Rehman, a large number of people who are fond of tourism are now engaged in meeting other household expenses, including heavy electricity bills, instead of sightseeing. While those who have resources are avoiding going for sightseeing in remote areas due to the country’s conditions.
According to the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan, the situation is very alarming due to the country’s conditions and inflation. 50 percent of small tour operators have closed down.
The main leader of the association, Chaudhry Anees Iqbal, while talking to the Express Tribune, said that the tourism sector was stagnant due to Covid and now the country’s conditions and inflation have broken the back of this sector.
He said that other countries are now reluctant to give us visas. Pakistani tourists have been placed in the list of countries like Zimbabwe and Ghana.
He further said that he met the ambassador of a European country to bring tourists from other countries to Pakistan. Tosfir said that there is no doubt that Pakistan is a beautiful country and rich in tourism heritage, but he himself is worried about the peace and order situation here. have written to their country about In these circumstances, how will they tell the citizens of their country to come to Pakistan?
The Department of Tourism is making efforts on its own to promote tourism in the province of Punjab, but so far these initiatives have not yielded any significant results.
Tourism Punjab mobile application has been introduced to guide the tourists, apart from this more than 500 tourist spots in the province have been geo-tagging.
Spokesperson of the Punjab Tourism Department, Tahmina Ahmed, said that various measures are being taken to promote tourism in southern Punjab in winter as the number of tourists in the northern regions decreases during this season.
He said that apart from this, Dharabi Lake Resorts are being built which will cost 25 crore rupees. Dadukhel Aqua Park is being built in Mianwali which will cost Rs 13 crore.
Resorts are being decorated and improved in Lahore’s Jalopark, this project will cost seven crore rupees, while in Changa Manga, seven crore rupees will be spent on the establishment of an aqua park.
Sources of the Punjab Tourism Department said that the caretaker government has withheld the funds for these projects, due to which the work has stopped at present, but it is expected that the funds will be released again with the permission of the Election Commission.
Various tours are arranged in inner city including Shahi Qila by the Waldcity of Lahore Authority for local and foreign tourists but the number of participants in these tours is very disappointing due to which many tourist tours are inactive.
Lahore’s Shahi Fort and Lahore Museum are major centers of domestic and foreign tourists.
Lahore Museum was visited by 2 lakh 5 thousand 338 tourists in the year 2022 while till September 30 this year the number of visitors to the museum has been recorded as 1 lakh 41 thousand 840.
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