RAWALPINDI, Sept 26: World Tourism Day on Saturday may not contribute towards reviving tourism in Pakistan in general and in tourist destinations in particular as most of them have been plagued by militant violence.

Tourism is a major source of foreign exchange and leading industry in many countries, especially in the developing world. But in Pakistan, this industry is under severe stress due to turbulent and explosive situations that have hit most of areas of tourist attractions.

The year 2008 was worst for tourism as no domestic or foreign tourist was able to enter the valley of Swat and other areas of tourist’s attraction in NWFP. Even Northern Areas could not woo tourists due to negative travel advisories issued by the Western countries. Data compiled by the Ministry of Tourism showed decline in foreign tourist’s arrival.

The Ministry of Tourism while quoting figures received from FIA and Immigration, says a total of 557,975 tourists arrived in Pakistan at the end of August 2008 against 581,152 the same period in 2007, showing a decline of 4 per cent. The year 2007 was celebrated as the year of ‘Visit Pakistan’ and despite spending millions of rupees the target of one million tourists could not be achieved.

FIA and Immigration officials at airports have no method to categorize foreigners arriving for the purpose of tourism or those visiting Pakistan for business. The latest figures perhaps also include the movement of diplomats based in Pakistan.

An official of the Ministry of Tourism told Dawn that the foreign exchange receipts against foreign tourists declined by 8 per cent in 2008, and figures made available shows the receipt of foreign exchange up to July 2008 was 162.3 million dollars as against 164.4 million dollars in 2007. The Ministry has no data on the number of domestic tourists, he said.

The year 2008 has also proved to be the worst for the business community in almost entire tourist attraction areas. In those areas, tourism is the basic source of bread and butter for the local population. Hotel business particularly in Swat valley up to Kalam collapsed while business of small scale offering traditional indigenous products also suffered heavy loss. Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) which runs motels and hotels in several tourist areas also suffered financial losses due to poor business. During the militant violence, PTDC has lost its motel at Mallam Jabba. The motel was recently set on fire by extremists.

The main purpose of ‘World Tourism Day’ is to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values.

Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges in general, and to sustainable development and the UN Millennium Development Goals in particular. Catalyzing grassroots action by the tourism sector to face this challenge is at the centre of this year’s World Tourism Day Theme, Tourism: Responding to the Challenge of Climate Change.

With some 900 million international arrivals last year and 1.6 billion forecast for 2020 the challenge is to consolidate and focus the benefits, while continuously reducing the carbon footprint. The tourism sector needs to rapidly respond to climate change if it is to develop in a truly sustainable manner – reducing its own GHG emissions intelligently and responding expeditiously to the impacts on its own operations.

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) has issued its 2008 Report on “Climate Change and Tourism, Responding to Global Challenges” developed in cooperation with the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which says evidence is clear that the time is now for the tourism community to advance its strategy to address what must be considered the greatest challenge to the sustainability of tourism in the 21st century.”