PRESENT government has focused on exploiting diverse tourism potential of the country as this industry alone has capacity to cultivate maximum economic benefits for the country. One province that is leading efforts for promotion of tourism is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and credit for this goes to senior minister for tourism Atif Khan who, since assuming office, has been working actively to achieve targets given by the PM.
Talking to a delegation of World Bank on Saturday, the provincial minister said that eleven new tourist sites are being established in KPK and steps have been taken to provide all required facilities to local and foreign tourists to visit these scenic sites. In the first phase, these sites will be established in Swat, Chitral and Mansehra. Commitment of provincial government can also be seen from the fact that it has allocated Rs 5 billion in the budget for promotion of tourism. Since security situation stands improved in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as rest of the country, it indeed is right time to project beautiful image of the country abroad to attract maximum number of foreign tourists.
Domestic tourism is already on the rise but scenes of picturesque places failing to cope with the deluge of tourists is a serious issue that needs to be addressed by building necessary infrastructure including roads and hotels with the cooperation of private sector so that people have an easy access to these sites where they could enjoy their leisure time in a hassle free manner. At the same time practical steps should be taken to educate people about preserving these sites and heavy fines should be imposed on those who try to spoil and damage environment. Apart from hill station resorts, authorities should also focus on developing resorts along its vast and beautiful coastline with the help of international companies having relevant expertise.
