ISLAMABAD, July 20: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday approved a tourism-marketing strategy which is aimed at exploiting the country’s tourism potential for promoting its unique products in national and international markets in an efficient manner.

The strategy will focus on unique selling points of Pakistan including historical and heritage sites, world class climbing and hiking areas, sacred religious sites of the Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists and niche markets (sports tourism, extreme adventure Eco tourism etc).

In the first phase Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Japan, Korea, the USA, Canada and Scandinavian countries will be targeted. Japan, Korea, Germany, the UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman, Spain and other European countries, Singapore and Taiwan will be the target markets in the second phase.

The strategy aims at cultivating ‘brand ambassadors’ and seeking endorsement of celebrities who visit Pakistan.

Chairing a meeting at the PM’s House on Thursday to review the tourism-marketing strategy, the prime minister said the government was determined to promote country’s vast potential of tourism and had made access to Pakistan easier for tourists by introducing a liberal visa policy.

He said there was a need to tap the potential, as its ancillary effect led to creating economic activity, jobs and earning foreign exchange. Tourism, he said, also helped improve the image of the country.

The prime minister said 2007 had been declared ‘the Year of Tourism’ and asked the Ministry of Tourism to take all necessary measures to make it a success.

Mr Aziz said efforts should also be made to encourage domestic tourism by setting up hotels and other necessary amenities as the foreign tourism invariably follows places where domestic tourism already exists. He, however, pointed out that the government would play the role of a facilitator and enabler while tourism amenities would be provided by the private sector.

He said a number of international investors had shown interest in building hotels in major cities of the country while several airlines were starting new flights to Pakistan, which would help in growth of tourism in Pakistan.

The federal secretary tourism made a detailed presentation on the tourism-marketing plan. Federal Tourism Minister Ms Nilofar Bakhtiar, Chairman PIA and representatives of the private sector attended the presentation.

The prime minister approved the tourism-marketing strategy jointly prepared by the Tourism Ministry and the private sector. He appreciated the initiatives taken by the ministry and maintained that success of the strategy laid in its implementation which was the responsibility of the Ministry of Tourism.

The activities under the strategy would include establishment of tourism desks in PIA offices and Pakistani missions abroad, participation in Indian and UAE trade fairs, arrangement of road shows in various countries and tours for prominent travel writers of leading publications.

The representatives of the private sector commended the efforts of the government to promote the tourism industry and said policies of the government were contributing to growth and business development. They hailed the government’s decision to liberalise its visa policy.