As the last of the Sikh pilgrims from India make their way back from the celebrations held in honour of the 554th birthday of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Jee, there is much talk about the hospitality shown by the government towards the thousands of followers of Sikhism who flocked to Pakistan for the religious event.
But there is little to no talk of how this hospitality can be converted into a source of much needed revenue to revive the ailing tourism industry in a country which has been labelled one of the most dangerous places to visit on the earth.
Being a multi-dimensional business, tourism as an industry has emerged as one of the biggest in the world, with close links to a countrys economic growth, the performance of its service industries and with employment generation within both the formal and informal sector.
But despite being recognised as a major stimulator to overall economy in terms of spillovers, the state of tourism affairs within Pakistan remains dismal.
Moreover, with security concerns prompting countries such as USA and UK to issue Travel Warnings to its citizens against visits to Pakistan, there seems to be little light at the end of the tunnel for the countrys tourism industry.
However, the one avenue of possibility that has remained open throughout has been the prospects of Religious Tourism within Pakistan, which offers the unrealized potential of becoming a major revenue earner for the government.
One of the larger organised religions in the world, Sikhism commands the loyalty of some 23 million people worldwide, and the mathematics is pretty much straightforward from this point onwards.
Thousands visit Pakistan every year to celebrate various religious festivals such as Baisakhi and birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak, which should be reason enough for the government to invest significantly in improving the governance and management structure of Sikh tourism within the country.
Not only that, as of now, there are little public and private sector investments into the improvement of the countrys existing infrastructure capabilities meant to hold the incoming pilgrims; as a result, Pakistan is unable to take advantage of a situation which in other hands might have been a patented money-maker.
Additionally, of the 150 or so Gurdwaras within the country, only a handful are currently open to the foreigner visitors- pilgrims hailing mostly from India, Europe, USA and Canada- which means that allowing access to more can cause a jump in the number of pilgrims who visit the country every year.
As a study commissioned by the Planning and Development Division of the Government of Pakistan, points out, there is great potential to promote religious tourism across Pakistan and the cost does not seem to be too much.
All that is asked is that the government, and all related agencies including the Evacuee Trust Property Board and Tourism and Resorts Development Department put their heads together to ensure one thing: the simple and effective facilitation of the foreign pilgrims that do happen to visit the country.
To that end, it is essential that a number of issues such as the development of affordable facilities and accommodations within the major cities host to famous places of Sikh worship are given priority.
Moreover, a liberalized visa regime for Indian pilgrims should also help. Currently, some 20,000 foreign pilgrims visit Pakistan for the four events they are allowed to attend in a year. Increasing the number of events that foreign Sikh Yatris can attend should also help increase the inflow of religious tourists to the country, bringing in precious foreign revenue.
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