Religious tourism in Pakistan: Scope, obstacles & strategies

Abstract Religious tourism is a thriving yet largely unexplored industry in Pakistan; a country packed with landmarks of various religious ethnicities. With a hefty economic potential, religious tourism in Pakistan faces a number of challenges. The aim of this study is to figure out the best possible strategy to overcome these obstacles. For this purpose, a number of strategies are considered for the cultivation and improvement of religious tourism in Pakistan. These strategies are weighed against the problems through a complex decision-making technique, TOPSIS integrated with Fuzzy logic. The top results center around strategizing toward the population that is the biggest market to Pakistan’s religious tourism sites. The best ranked strategies sway toward improving political ties and channeling advertisement efforts toward the target audience. The outcomes obtained from this study fall in-line with existing literature as well as the historical political tensions in South Asia, with relevant audiences residing in Pakistan’s neighboring countries. Another key factor leading to this outcome is the counteraction of the visa unavailability problem faced by citizens of neighboring countries. The results of the study can be turned into constructive initiatives by Pakistan’s government and tourist organizations so that religious tourism may thrive. The novelty offered by this study is the exploration of Pakistan’s untapped industry of religious tourism in Pakistan; scarcely any literature has discussed the comprehensive potential of religious tourism in Pakistan.