IN the last two articles, a vision was put forth to create a mega business sector for Pakistan based on its Gandhara Heritage. This mega sector would generate US$ 20 billion yearly in revenue at its maturity.
To create this mega sector, there are 10 links of the value chain that need to be forged, namely; 1) Streamline the visa regime – let Pakistan be welcoming and grant long-term visa; 2) Streamline the travel NOC regime for diplomats and tourists – let us open up Pakistan; 3) Engage the Buddhist monks and leaders to lead – they know what is sacred and important, 4) Market Pakistan and its Gandhara heritage – change perceptions and promote the heritage; 5) Organize tour operators – find honourable operators and link them to their counterparts in targeted countries; 6) Sensitize and educate the local population – show them economic opportunity, and sensitize them that Buddhism is no threat to our glorious religion; 7) Organize sites and infrastructure – it is not as hard as it seems if done rightly through the advice of Buddhist leaders; 8) Coordinate financing and investment – both local and international private sectors are ready to invest; 9) Coordinate funding from international donors – donors have resources, we need to coordinate; and, 10) Set up a Coordination entity – to create this sector, we need close coordination between more than 20 relevant ministries and departments at all levels.
In the previous articles, the details of the first four links were presented which included streamlining the visa regime, organizing the NOC regime for diplomats and tourists, engaging Buddhist leaders to guide the development of this sector, and launching a focused and organized campaign to market Pakistan and its heritage. Let us now focus on the details of the next three links of the value chain. The 5th link proposes the need to organize Pakistan’s tour operators to provide world class service. Initially, we need to identify 15–20 “honorable and professional” tour operators in Pakistan.
We need to educate them in establishing proper Gandhara tours, create appropriate promotional material, standardize the rates and introduce them to their counterparts in targeted countries identified in the previous link. The introduction to their counterparts should be done by holding focused B2B seminars in the targeted countries in partnership with the trade sections of Pakistan embassies in the host countries. Concurrently, we need to bring selected tour operators and media from the targeted countries and take them on road shows to the iconic Gandhara sites.
The sixth link is perhaps the most critical for Pakistan because of its potential implications, if not addressed properly. This link focuses on the population of Pakistan in general but more specifically around the Gandhara sites. The population has to be educated and sensitized about Buddhism and the Buddhist heritage. They need to understand that Buddhism is a philosophy and in some ways similar to Sufism, and is not a religion per se. It is neither “idol worship”, nor a threat to the glorious religion of Islam. Concurrent to the sensitization, it is imperative that the local population gains the maximum economic advantage from the tourism industry.
This should be done in a multi-pronged approach whereas they realize benefit from being part of the hospitality services industry (hotel and restaurant operations), training, production and sale of local arts and crafts, skill development in production and sales of items for Buddhist including replicas of Gandhara art, incense burners and prayer beads from Gandhara rocks and production and sale of snacks, dried fruits, etc., to tourists. In this manner, the local population will learn to appreciate their heritage, as well as gain economic advantage from the emergence of the Gandharan tourism industry.
The seventh link proposes organizing the sites and the infrastructure around the sites. We should seek the guidance of Buddhist leaders to identify sites of particular significance to them. As mentioned in a preceding section, the Buddhists leaders know which sites are important to them and their sects, of which there are at least fifteen.
The Buddhist leaders can also identify the infrastructure required for their Sangha and Laymen. 5-star hotels are not a requirement but rather, clean lodging, appropriate cuisine, meditation centres, learning centres, peaceful environments, gardens, lotus. Pakistan should ensure proper infrastructure for transportation and security and the rest can be through advice and investment of the Buddhist leaders and their community in the world. In this manner, not only will mission appropriate infrastructure be created, but the investment will be incoming for the infrastructure. The last three links to create the mega tourism sector will be detailed in the subsequent article.
—The writer is a former Advisor to the Government and a sector development specialist who has been promoting Pakistan and Gandhara worldwide.
