Domestic tourism registers record high in 2007
By Khalid Amin

ISLAMABAD—The current season is witnessing domestic tourism activity on much larger scale with country’s fabulous sites catering to a flux of nature lovers both at home and abroad.
Figures provided by Tourism Ministry indicated a tremendous surge that had been registered in the number of countrymen who were exploring the fascinating beauty of the motherland.
“This is a very encouraging sign and we just want to further boost this activity,” said an official of the tourism ministry.
Keeping in view the interest of the people, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) has launched Luxury Bus Service from Islamabad to picturesque Naran Valley. The service ensures easy as well as economical access to thoselocations where travel expenses cost too much, bar ring almost the middlemen to get there. PTDC would also introduce such steps that would be instrumental in not only accelerating domestic tourism, but also attract foreign tourists as well.
Pakistan captures a unique position having five out of 14 mountain peaks above 8000 metres, vast deserts, serene valleys, gushing rivers, high altitude warm water lakes, diverse cultures and much more.
Government has declared the year 2007 as Destination Pakistan Year, and is holding a host of spectacular events throughout the country to market this immense tourism potential both at home and abroad. Tourism is one of the biggest revenue generating industry in the world, however, Pakistan’s share is not up to the mark.
Effort are afoot to forge public-private partnership and make joint venture to enabling rich tourism industry of Pakistan to claim sizeable share in this multi-billion trade. Meanwhile, the Senate Standing Committee on Culture, Sports and Tourism stressed the need to promote tourism both at domestic and international levels as it plays pivotal role in the economic development of a country. It also called for aggressively launching campaign to promote tourism andpursuing the National Marketing Strategy to achieve the objectives. The members suggested that Ministry of Tourism, in coordination with otherMinistries like Foreign Affairs, Commerce, Interior and Information and Broadcasting should formulate a viable plan to thwart the baseless propaganda launched by some western countries and highlight Pakistan’s soft image abroad.
It was also suggested that tourism cells in Pakistani embassies/high commissions should be set up to remove these misperceptions. The committee recommended that Ministry of Tourism should send delegations comprising public representatives, writers, media representatives and tour operators to foreign countries to highlight Pakistan’s true image and also invite writers, intellectuals and thejournalists to give them a true picture of Pakistan. It was told that Ministry of Tourism, despite various constraints has successfully attracted the foreign as well as local investors to invest in the tourism sector and as a result of these efforts 22 major tourism projects were presently being undertaken.