Tourism is a great industry. Whole world earns billions of dollars through this but Pakistan is unable in marketing it effectively. Many important holy places belonging to Christianity, Buddhist, Sikhism and Hindu religion are there in Pakistan. Lots of potential of religious tourism is there but infrastructure is not developed to a considerable extent to exploit the historical and religious tourism. Therefore, awareness must be spread that religious tourism can also be tapped as a sector of economy. Unfortunately, very few of us and the people from the outside world know that there are so many sacred places belonging to different religions in Pakistan.
Take the case of Taxila. Taxila is a very important place for Buddhist religion. Hundreds of thousands of foreigners visit Taxila museum every year. We can take impressions of these tourists as what they think for improving tourism in Pakistan and harness efforts towards that direction for making tourism flourish still further there and all over Pakistan in general.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, travel and tourism contributed to 3.7 % of Pakistan’s GDP in 2021. India accounted for 1.47% of the World’s international tourist in 2022 while in the year 2024 Travel and Tourism Development Index ranked Pakistan 101st out of 119 countries. In the South Asian countries India has a share of 70 percent in the field of tourism while Pakistan has only a measly 5.5 percent share.
When you think of Pharaohs you think of Egypt. Khana Kaaba is a place all over the world revered deeply by every Muslim from heart and soul. Same feeling is there in the hearts of Buddhists and people of other religions for their holy sites in Pakistan. If we promote religious tourism, it would link Pakistan with the rest of the world.
Historical places like Mohenjo Daro, Harappa and Taxila are rich cultural heritage areas in Pakistan. Saudi Arab and Iran are employing efforts to promote historical tourism. Saudis are conducting excavations relating to ancient Islamic history. Iran is also employing efforts to promote historical tourism. In Pakistan attention should be focused in this area to attract tourists.
Tourism is important for fostering interfaith harmony. If we work on promoting religious tourism then it can be important for maintaining the world peace also. It is quite obvious that when we value other religions and their holy places then they are likely to reciprocate in the same vein and respect our religion.
We must be the custodians of our national cultural heritage in the true spirit. For increasing interfaith harmony religious tourism must be included as an important component by ministry of religious affairs. It is necessary for promoting the soft image of the country and would be helpful in bringing revenue generation. However, focus should be on provision of more of the facilities, like online visa, construction of hotels nearby holy sites and most importantly ensuring security to the devotees who visit Pakistan hailing from different places of the world. Every year thousands of Sikhs and Buddhists come to Pakistan for visiting their sacred places.
In Sri Lanka tooth of Buddha is placed in a gold Lotus flower inside multiple gold boxes in the Temple of the Tooth. That is open rarely for public viewing. Pakistan has sacred assets of Buddhist religion. It is the only country in the world that has two teeth of Mahatma Buddha which are safe in Taxila museum. But how much we promote this is evident to all.
Holy places of Hindus are there in the form of Katas Raj temple and temple of Tilla Jogian, an abandoned Hindu temple located in the salt range in Punjab which is the Jerusalem of Hindus. Hinglaj Devi Temple is there in Hinglaj which is a town on Makran Coast in Baluchistan in Hingol National Park, a natural park with an area of 6,000 square kilometres. Approximately 40,000 followers of Hinduism come here in the month of April.
We have to devise the policies through which international tourism can be promoted. Approximately 80 to 90 percent source of information the youth get is from the social media. We have to filter the information in the social media and produce a digital content which attracts the youth and people of different religions. Pakistani embassies abroad can play an effective role in this respect. One suggestion is that a tourist corridor can be made from Wahgah to Katas Raj temple. Likewise, modern facilities can be provided at the sites of holy places of different religions. A temple of Mahatma Buddha can be built in Islamabad which can be a source of attraction for 506 million Buddhists from different parts of the world. Monks can be invited so that they can impart teachings related to Mahatma Buddha to their younger ones. This step will be helpful in increasing religious harmony.
We have a 9,000 years old history. We have to project these historical sites in the international market. Millions of visitors can come from countries like Japan, Thailand, Korea, China. Sri Lanka and Bhutan where Buddhism is predominantly a major religion.
Nankana Sahib is the birth place of Guru Nanak and he died in Kartarpr Narowal. Both places are located in Pakistan. Sikh pilgrims are passionate followers of Baba Guru Nanak and visit Pakistan every year in great numbers. These two cities can be made the golden temples and every year hundreds of thousands of Sikhs can come here. Promoting religious tourism can be an effective step in not only inviting revenue but will also be instrumental in evoking the soft, liberal and forward-looking image of Pakistan all across the world.
Ghazala Anbreen
