Sustainable Tourism Potential and Strategies for Development as an Industry in Pakistan, Factors Affecting Tourism

Pakistan is home to about 216 million people and most of the population is earning less than 10 $ a day. Pakistan, like any other beautiful European country, is a huge market for tourism as it offers not only the beauty of nature but also the diversity of cultures. In fact, tourism is the most profitable and entrepreneurial business, especially for people living in mountainous areas as it creates new jobs and reduces unemployment for them. But unfortunately, the number of tourists visiting Pakistan fluctuates from year to year.
Therefore, the aim of my thesis is to find out the positive and negative factors affecting the tourism industry in Pakistan, to compare the performance of our tourism industry with some potential neighboring countries to find out where Pakistan stands and in terms of competition, it lacks, to find out the role of the government in improving this industry and to suggest some possible strategies for improving this industry.
The Primary data was collected from domestic and international tourists through interviews, and survey questionnaires inside and outside the country in 2019 when I was in Pakistan and data collected from tourist operators was done there. The Secondary data was collected from my personal visit to PTDC and the Ministry of Tourism in 2019.
Estimated results have reprimanded the fact that poor access, development, weakness, margins, and the country's persistent social/political problems are the factors that have reduced the proportion of tourist visits to Pakistan. Secondly, the government of Pakistan has also failed to implement policies and strategies that could have been a catalyst for the tourism industry.
The conclusion drawn from the collected data is that Pakistan's tourism industry fluctuates greatly in the alternate years, ie the reasons for this decline from 2005 to 2016 are linked to the country's political and social problems and Lack of active participation of Tourism officials. Domestic and international tourists love the nature, culture, and food of Pakistan and 80% of them want to travel around Pakistan but unfortunately, due to insurgency and unavailability of facilities their travel rate Decreased. But the recent year from 2017-2019 Pakistan's new government take immediate steps and Pakistan tourism industry growth has been increasing in recent years. But still, we are back behind in the tourism industry in our neighboring countries like China and India where the tourism industry having more and more powerful every year.
My suggestions for the development of this industry are that governments should take the tourism industry seriously and improve the tourism infrastructure, overcome the insurgency in the country as soon as possible, and strengthen relations with the outside world. Establish, present image, positive image of Pakistan through media etc. so that the status and quality of Pakistan's tourism industry can be improved globally.
Research limitations encountered during data collection include limited information sharing by PTDC and the Ministry of Tourism as their data is not updated properly. Secondly, since 2020 world suffers from covid-19 and there are many restrictions and limitations behind the scene like no one could travel due to covid. So, I used the idea of conducting a survey online through helping social media groups and online surveys. The important aspect or value of this research is that it has considered almost all the important factors affecting the tourism industry in terms of potential tourists and finally has come up with some suggestions that will make the current deterioration of this industry worse Can improve the situation the required words.



Tourism, Pakistan, Strategy, Potential, Domestic and International Tourism, Factors, Development.







INTRODUCTION
The introduction chapter gives some information on Pakistan as a tourist country, the problem Statement, the aims of the research, the significance and objective of the research and the limitations of the research.

Pakistan is a tourist country.

Pakistan, as shown in Figure 1, after its independence from British India appeared as a modern nation on 14 august 1947. All four provinces of Pakistan are gifted with heritage and culture and one of the fertile and unique collections of majestic and rugged mountains, lush fields, deserts, rivers, lakes, seashores, and landscapes enriched with friendly and hospitable people thus making it a heavenly destination for tourists with different tastes. Pakistan is known in the world of tourism because of the mountainous regions of the north, the Hindukush, Karakoram, and the Great Himalaya who form the densest concentration of high peaks in the world. Kalam (Swat valley) in Pakistan is known as the Switzerland of Asia. The Hunza and Chitral valleys in Pakistan were the home to a small periplasmic animist Kalasha community who claim descent from the army of Alexander the Great. The historical and archaeological sites of the Gandhara and Indus Valley Civilizations, Mohenjo-Daro, Taxila the Mughal Empire are examples of the oldest civilizations in Pakistan. This multicultural nature of the country also contributes to the tourism industry in the way that it offers various traditions, customs, and festivals for the tourists to explore and enjoy.
In Punjab is the site of Alexander's battle on the Jhelum River and the historic city Lahore, Pakistan has many cultural capitals with many examples of Mughal architecture such as the Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens. Tomb of Jahangir and Lahore fort.
The tourism sector in Pakistan is fluctuating due to various political and security issues. However, it has been a major sector of the economy and the current government is focusing on the tourism sector. Tourism contributed about US 7 7.6 billion in 2016 and is expected to grow by 5.1% in 2017 and is expected to grow by 5.6% in PKR1, 432.1 billion GDP by 2027. (Arshad, M.I.; Iqbal, M.A.; Shahbaz 2018) The share of travel and tourism in GDP was 6.9% (US 19 19.4 billion) and is projected to increase to 6.0% in 2017 and 5.8% in 2027 and 7.2% of GDP. (Travel, W.; Council, T.2018)
Pakistan has a huge potential for tourism, including ancient archeological sites such as the Indus Valley Civilization, Kalasha, Buddhism, and so on. In terms of adventure tourism, all over Pakistan, there are breathtaking areas such as powerful peaks, glaciers, northern areas with rivers. , And southern areas such as the Cholistan Desert, Gwadar Beach, tombs in Sindh and Punjab are very famous. Despite such a huge potential, the tourism sector in Pakistan has not been given its due rights and consideration. There is a big difference between demand and service delivery and departmental coordination.
Pakistan has been a favorite destination for tourists from all over the world. But its hospitality and tourism industry, which is perceived as a high-connectivity service, has not developed as much as expected. Despite its geography Significance and resources. Lack of opportunities and a vulnerable environment are the problems facing Pakistan's hospitality and tourism industry. There are many reasons behind this. Unfortunately, the historic, 9/11 attacks were followed by a long period of political instability in 2007 and the assassination of political leader Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan's tourism and hospitality industry has been badly affected. Pakistan is currently a victim of militancy And they are doing their best to eradicate the threat of terrorism and this threat from the country as soon as possible. In this scenario, Pakistan's hospitality and tourism industry faces some military and strategic issues that are undermining the competitiveness and stability of the sector.

Problem Statement

According to the above paragraph, Pakistan seems to be a perfect place to be visited by the tourists but still, the tourist's arrival is decreasing day by day if we take into consideration the years from 2005 till 2020. The problem of this research determined the covid-19 situation all over the word suffering this disease and also decline tourists day by day.

Aim of the study
The aim of my thesis is to find the positive and negative reasons and factors that are affecting the Pakistan tourism industry and identify the cause of tourists' declining ratio. Find out the role of the government towards the development of this industry and suggest some strategies that can improve this sector.

Significance and Objective of the Research

This thesis is done with a purpose (figure 2) to investigate the factors affecting tourism in both positive and negative way. Discover the hidden potential of the tourism industry. Another motivation behind this research is to examine and compare the economic effect of tourism in terms of money and job generation in our country as compared to the neighboring countries. The value of this research lies in the fact that besides Pakistan the survey/questionnaire was also carried out abroad in order to get the view of potential tourists living outside Pakistan. The results and views obtained from the survey/questionnaire can be used by the following departments.
• PTDC (Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation) so that they can improve and stimulate the tourism industry keeping in view the domestic and international tourist opinions about the country and locations.
• UNESCO Islamabad office working for the conservation and protection of world heritage sites in Pakistan.They can provide funds to the tourism authority and keep a check on projects.They can also market Pakistan's tourism industry to the outside world.
• The data will also be provided to media people to bring in to attention the views of foreigners about Pakistan so that they can promote the positive view of Pakistan to the outside world which people are unaware of and to doc