IN 1994, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the then crown prince of Dubai, had a rude awakening: oil — the primary driver of the state’s economy — was running out fast. Advisers estimated that petroleum reserves would be fully depleted in the coming few decades, leaving the emirate stranded without a major source of revenue.

Economically, that spelt disaster for the majority workforce that was dependent on the oil industry for its livelihood one way or the other. Groundwork to transition dependency on oil to something equally profitable, if not more, and a lot more permanent, had to be laid down immediately to sustain progress in the future.

It was that revelation that spurred the sheikh’s attention towards the three most plentiful resources in the city: sun, sand and sea. The emir then had an epiphany of a futuristic Dubai serving as a tourist hotspot — one that transformed the dusty backwaters of ancient Bedouin trading grounds into a sprawling metropolis boasting high-rise buildings, luxurious hotels and city-sized malls.

In its former life as NWFP, KP was a tourist hotbed.

Dubai’s radical transformation highlights a fundamental responsibility of the establishment: identify promising ventures in their infancy and harness them for financial growth. The approach also forms the basis of good governance in the context of discovering verticals that show the potential of growth for both the people and the economy. For the Middle East, that area of potential was oil; for Iran, it was natural gas. For the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, that area of tremendous growth is undoubtedly tourism.

Blessed with wondrous beauty and unparalleled scenic landscapes, the otherworldly presence of KP is not limited to the confines of any particular city or area, but in fact envelopes the entire province as a whole. From start to finish the grandeur of the province embodies everything from soaring mountains and lush valleys to roaring rivers and exotic waterfalls — assets that make even the most striking locales in the world pale by comparison.

In its former life as NWFP, KP was a tourist hotbed that attracted travellers, both domestic and foreign, from all corners of the globe. Tourism thrived, and so did the livelihood of the populace. Ardent travellers revelled in the exquisiteness of the region with their loved ones; backpackers launched expeditions to quench their thirst for adventure; mountaineers recalled their escapades in the mountains in their memoirs.

The uphill battle with terrorism, however, proved to be a paradigm-shifting one. When safety of foreign visitors became a legitimate concern, the influx of foreign revenue — which served as a vital cash stream for the tourism industry — came to a screeching halt. Over time, KP lost its status as a premium travel destination to competing nations.

The unpredictable nature of terrorism aside, missteps of the current regime have contributed significantly to the misfortunes of the tourism industry in KP as well. Despite presenting tourism as top priority during election season, the PTI-led government took three years after winning the general election to formulate a tourism policy, preferring instead to hold mass demonstrations in the federal capital. Although the tourism policy is the first of its kind in the history of the province, the fact that it took a back seat compared to the unyielding efforts to topple a democratically elected government is telling.

Timely measures taken during the 1990s have served contemporary Dubai well. The tourism industry alone accounts for $36.4 billion annually in the sheikhdom, replacing the once dominant energy sector as the centrepiece of economic growth. While Dubai required feats of complex engineering to transform its sand dunes into people-pleasing landmarks, KP has half the battle won simply because of its geographical makeup. Breathtaking peaks, the Karakoram Highway (the highest paved highway in the world) and Shandur Top (the highest polo ground in the world) are some of the wonders the landscape has been blessed with.

For KP to reach its true revenue potential the establishment first needs to realise that it is sitting on a tourism ‘pot of gold’ capable of bolstering the economy the same way petrodollars did for Dubai. With the National Action Plan being implemented, forming a locally trained counterterrorism unit to supplement the ongoing efforts of the military will not only return a semblance of security to the region, it will also renew investor confidence in both new and existing infrastructure, which, in turn, will create thousands of jobs in the process.

Business models of successful travel destinations and what makes them tick can then be studied to draft a well-defined marketing strategy that advertises the province as a go-to travel destination for adventurous holidays. Only then will KP truly flourish on the world map.

The writer is a researcher.

Twitter: @fahadamalik

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2017