Tourism: open the door

Foreign tourism could arguably be Pakistan’s best bet to counter a harsh narrative overseas. This column has previously urged the need for a liberal visa policy to encourage foreign tourists to enjoy the best this country has to offer. Admirably, the Interior Ministry issued last week directives offering ‘group tourist visa on arrival’ facility to tourists from 24 countries through designated tour operators. The list of countries includes Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, the UK, US, and many Western European nations.

Simply making it easier to visit Pakistan won’t cut it alone – efforts need to be made to sustainable develop tourism’s soft and hard infrastructure across Pakistan. But the change of heart vis-à-vis foreign tourists is a good start. And already, there is some pushback apparent against the liberal tourism policy.

The opposition is mainly on two fronts, as captured in the former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar’s comments on this issue reported earlier this week during a parliamentary session.

First issue is “security”. The argument made by some is that terrorists – and spies – would flood Pakistan in the guise of tourists. But that argument, which suggests shutting things down instead of being smart with the screening procedures, places severe mistrust in capabilities of the country’s security apparatus to tell a spy from a sightseer.

Also, the “terrorists” Pakistan should be preventing entry to seem to come mainly from the immediate neighbourhood (Central and South Asia and the Middle East) instead of OECD countries, which make up 80 percent of the nations on the Ministry’s list.

Second issue is “reciprocity”. The argument goes that Pakistan should not offer liberal visa regime to nations that don’t return the favour to Pakistanis. That argument may apply in the limited case of official bilateral protocols. But when it comes to tourism, it appears that many ordinary Pakistanis want to visit the West, but same eagerness to visit Pakistan is not displayed by westerners.

The solution is not to get into a nationalist fervour and deny entry, but to showcase Pakistan’s tourism assets to foreigners. Only then, over time, Pakistan can build some tourism demand and dependency. A liberal visa policy is a right step in that direction.

The current Interior Minister has ably defended the new visa policy. Now what? Will measures regarding tourism development, on the ground, follow?

Likely not! If the current federal government or the next one is really interested in attracting foreign tourists and (through it) help boost national economy and overseas perception, it must go about it in an organised manner. It needs to gather all provincial governments and create a roadmap for tourism development, taking care of all aspects of tourism. Getting foreigners to visit the land is one thing; making them stay and come back again will require work.