Islamabad
The tourism industry has tremendous potential to significantly contribute to national economy, which is not only identified by the Pakistan Tehreek–i-Insaf (PTI) government but also endorsed by international experts and at different level.
Unlike its predecessors, the incumbent government has taken lead in embracing digital media to project the country’s true tourism potential at national and international levels by adopting effective and open policies in this sector. Apart from domestic tourism, the inbound tourism may also surge in the current year as the countries like France, Germany and the United Kingdom have also eased travel advisories for their residents, intending to visit Pakistan.
“The credit of restoring the status of Pakistan as best tourism destination at international horizon definitely goes to the PTI government,” an official in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s ministry of tourism, sports and culture told APP. He said not a single government sensed the potential of social media to promote the scenic spots, located in the northern parts of the country, but the present government had given the priority to the digital media which had been proved to be an effective tool so far.
The official said soon after coming into the power, the provincial government introduced a tourism digital media strategy to harness the digital media for attracting the local and foreign tourists to the country’s tourist resorts. Under the strategy, he said the KP government launched a tourism app to facilitate the tourists visiting the various tourist spots of the province. The application offered all the data related to tour operators, hotels, restaurants booking, tracking, tourist resorts, lakes, and weather in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he added.
The official said a number of international v-loggers including Mark Weins, Trevor, James and Khalid Al Ameri were engaged for the tourism promotion. Their visits to the provincial tourist gems were also arranged by the provincial tourism ministry, he added. He said a dedicated awareness campaign was also launched to promote winter sports and adventure tourism.
Special teams of photographers, designers and content producers were constituted to project the beauty of all the tourist spots at plethora of social media pages, the social media team head in KP Waqas Khan said. He said video reports on Pakistan tourism were being promoted through the party, government departments and the relevant minister pages. An official in the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) said the department had also worked out a strategy for utilizing social networking sites to boost tourism activities.
The v-loggers, bloggers and content producers were being sensitized under the new strategy to produce quality content in that regard, he added.—APP
