Is Pakistan ready to become hub of religious tourism?

Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation has identified 480 locations for inbound tourism

Picture source - Wikipedia

Pakistan saw the arrival of groups of pilgrims from different countries, including India, during the last couple of months while the New Year started with the visit of 215 Hindu yatris to Samadhi of Shri Paramhans Ji Maharaj and Teri Temple in Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The visitors made a four-day stay, met the chief justice of Pakistan and National Assembly speaker and admired the hospitality of the government and people before leaving the country. They expressed satisfaction over the security situation. Over 100 Hindu pilgrims from India arrived in Pakistan through Wagah border on a seven-day tour in mid of December to perform religious rituals at the Katas Raj temples.

As many as 8,000 Sikhs from India, Afghanistan, Canada, Britain, Australia came to Nankana Sahib on the eve of Guru Nanak Devji’s 552nd birth anniversary on November 19. Days before the event, Pakistan and India agreed to re-open Kartarpur Corridor after almost one and a half years of its inauguration on November 9, 2019. Hundreds of followers of Sikh religion visited the final resting place of Guru Nanak during the week-long celebrations of the birth anniversary of the founder of the religion.

Visitors included Indian Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, his family and cabinet members and famous Indian cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu. The Kartarpur Corridor is now open for visa-free pilgrimage after remaining closed due to COVID-19. Amid the recent visits of pilgrims, the COVID-19 new wave has again gripped the country with positivity rate climbing to 1.8 percent. As many as 898 persons were reported to be infected in last 24 hours; the highest number since October 14.

It is a fact that the pandemic destroyed the world tourism industry in the last two years but Pakistan’s case is not only specific to spread of the deadly disease. Successive governments have long been neglecting the industry besides the security situation, lack of facilities for visitors, shortages of funds to invest in developing and maintaining religious sites in line with the UNESCO standards being few of the main reasons behind the decline of religious tourism.

Undoubtedly, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government took initiatives to revive tourism, particularly religious tourism. His government established a national task force on tourism, formed a National Tourism Coordination Board and developed a new visa policy to provide online visa facility to 175 countries in past three years.

The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation identified 480 locations for inbound tourism, which include 106 sites of historical significance, 120 religious, and 26 religio-historical places.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government plans to return more than 3,000 historical artifacts to attract tourists from the region besides it has launched the first mobile travel application to promote tourism in the region. Besides opening Kartarpur, the Punjab government has also started work on rehabilitating different Sikh gurdwaras, Hindu temples and improvement of Taxila heritage site. The provincial governments of Sindh and Balochistan and Evacuee Trust Board have also taken steps to revive the industry.

But, being home to holiest place of Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism and having a unique significance to take advantage of religious tourism, the country’s industry trails far behind that of the region. Punjab – home to five of the most important pilgrimage sites for the Sikh community – had the maximum potential to attract millions of Sikhs from across the world.

According to reports, 79 percent of 20 million Indian Sikhs wished to visit Pakistan, but they faced a number of challenges to fulfill their desire. But hardly 10 percent of the Sikhs across the globe have visited Pakistan so far, as per media reports. Pakistan emerged as one of the most sought-after tourist destinations over the past few years, as per Forbes list issued in March 2021. It is believed the country could earn billions of dollars and become a hub of tourism by bringing improvements in key sectors.