21

Chapter 21 Implementing the Strategy

21.1 Constraints to Implementation Perception It is expected that six million visitors will arrive in South Asia in this current year 2000. Of these Pakistan's share will pro a ly e in the re!ion of four hundred thousand. "owever# all visitors are not tourists in the accepted marketin! and promotional sense. In the case of Pakistan the actual vacation 'tourist' arrivals in $%%% was no more than sixty thousand. &he rest were made up of predominantly '()s and *usiness travellers. +ontrary to !eneral elief# Pakistan tourism at this time is a ,arket led industry and not supply driven. &his means that Pakistan is not encoura!in! or influencin! increasin! tourists to visit the country as the last decade's statistics show. &ourism is not worth much- *ankers# .overnment and .eneral Pu lic do not rate tourism as a worthwhile industry warrantin! much support.

)eality Only $/0 of all visitors to Pakistan are classified as vacation of true '&ourists' or $ in 1 of every international arrival. &he existin! product does not influence the market for Pakistan. o ,ountaineerin! is not a !rowth product 2 "as reached saturation point on availa le peaks o 3xistin! &rekkin! areas are nearin! saturation o Other tourism assets have een down!raded infrastructure and 4uality5standards y poor

o 6ue to a lack of a marketin! strate!y and funds# Pakistan has no influence in the international marketplace As a conse4uence the market will dictate if it will come to Pakistan. &he actual value in forei!n exchan!e earnin!s from international visitors is more than four times !reater than the fi!ures pu lished y the +entral *ank. In other words international visitors represent /.20 of .7P. In other words tourism is close to the value of Pakistan's rice export. Context: 8orld tourism will reach 910 million in this year 2000. Of this South Asia will welcome some 9 million and of this fi!ure Pakistan will receive some :00#000. In real terms tourism arrivals to Pakistan over the last ten years has shown no positive

indications of any kind. This is due to a number of factors including: o Poor international image o Inadequate support from Government Tourism held in low esteem o Poor management/organi ational structure o !o international promotion and poor funding o !o supportive realistic tourism policy !epal for instance" a country smaller than Pakistan with only its #ountains and Trekking as ma$or tourism attractions has shown a steady growth of over %.&' per year with figures not dissimilar to Pakistan which is larger and more diverse. This is due to: o (etter image o #ore support from government o Good co)operation with the private sector o *reated a public)private sector partnership with institutional cooperation responsible for destination marketing and promotion and enhancement of its destination image Prospects and Potential To increase the ratio of vacation tourist arrivals from + in , to - in , by .//&.

 To do so with e0isting product by upgrading facilities and services and improving utili ation ) no increase in capacity required. Potential to earn an additional 123.%& million in direct foreign e0change in the ne0t & year period. Increase in profitability will encourage investment Increase incomes and employment in the sector" particularly in the !orth Increase the number of 4omen employed in tourism In the longer term the potential for increased tourism benefits will develop with the improvement of the product" development of a positive image and increasing percentages of international tourists. Parado0ically the image will improve with increasing numbers of tourist visitors and tourists will help improve the image. Improvement in product standards" training" and improvement of the environment and infrastructure will all in themselves create a long term sustainable image of Pakistan as a must visit destination. Achieving the Potential The overall national ob$ective of the government of Pakistan is the wellbeing of its people through the alleviation of poverty. The ob$ective of this pro$ect is to contribute to that goal by a short" medium and longer term strategic master plan for tourism which will ensure the orderly development of tourism as an important sector of the economy of Pakistan" with resultant increased employment" foreign e0change earnings and government revenue" and to minimi e potential adverse social" cultural and environmental impacts of tourism. This will be in line with the ninth five 5ear plan. There are four core issues to be addressed in the development of tourism" these are the formulation of Policy" the structure of the management machinery" the legal and regulatory process 67acilitation8 and the source of sustainable tourism funding. 1nless these four issues are addressed and recommendations acted upon" all other recommendations of the strategic plan will be built on clay. They are the framework of all disciplines for the good and orderly development of the tourism sector. 1. Policy: 9 new tourism policy to be formulated" adopted and implemented. Policy is the government:s statement of

support to the industry. 4ithout an implementable and implemented tourism policy" the sector will not develop in a structured manner. 2. Management: ;stablish an effective management structure by streamlining the #inistry of Tourism and setting up a statutory public)private sector partnership. Tourism is largely a private sector industry and governments world wide are gradually divesting themselves of the commercial activities of tourism and responding to the supportive responsibility of policy" monitoring and regulatory standards. 3. Legislation: To moderni e the legal and fiscal structure within which the industry can achieve its potential. The e0isting tourism acts are outdated and need redrafting to be more relevant to the situation confronting tourism in the new millennium. Pakistan should invest adequate funds into the tourism sector to secure its future by directing and mobili ing a realistic proportion of the revenues generated for industry support. If the marketing" monitoring" management and maintenance of tourism resources of Pakistan are not adequately funded" the country cannot compete in international tourism and allow it to achieve social and economic ob$ectives.
&he four core issues; Policy ,ana!ement <e!islation (undin!

4. Funding:

Constraints The constraints are those within which tourism in Pakistan must work and which we cannot do anything about. In other words constraints that are inherent in the country and that will impact negatively on achieving the sustainability of the recommendations of the tourism master plan:

9 weak and heavily indebted economy <olatile =egional conflicts Islamic cultural sensitivities *ulture of corruption and bureaucracy Internal political instability >ow educational levels and high illiteracy rates

Key Findings 9part from the obvious issues of poor image" inadequate funding and lack of an implementable policy" the following key findings have been identified. Tourism in Pakistan is still in its infancy of development =eal ?tourists? represent only +-' of all visitor arrivals =eal ?tourists to !orthern 9reas represented less than ./"/// in +@@@. #ountain Tourism 6mountaineering8 will not e0pand much beyond it:s present level. Trekking in restricted areas will not grow much beyond its present levels The tourism sector has suffered from over e0pectancy due to the absence of real research and misinformation. 9s a result" tourism has been evaluated on the wrong assumptions Improve utili ation and occupancy before encouraging further increase in capacity !o new capacity developments needed in the short to medium term Government tourism budgets wasteful and are not optimi ed There is mistrust between the Government and the Private sector and there is the urgent need for a closer relationship between the two ;0isting tourism institutional structures are inhibiting the development of tourism 7oreign e0change earnings are more than four times greater than those published by the 2tate (ank Tourism standards are declining both in product and human resources *ultural heritage sites are not adequately protected and are in danger of being systematically plundered

 Aomestic tourism is damaging to the environment through indiscriminate and uncontrolled development The environment is in danger due to lack of controls and enforcement Key Recommendations The existing policy e!ui es e"ie# and updating to suppo t the de"elopment o$ the indust y o 2upport the sector by key declarations o Policies to be implemented %e# &epa ate &t eamlined Minist y o$ Tou ism o Professional o *omputeri ed o #inimum establishment %e# &tatuto y Pu'lic(P i"ate &ecto Pa tne ship ) Pakistan Tourist (oard o Private 2ector dominated )e"ol"ement o$ the PT)* o =esponsibilities to be taken over by the PT( o !o private sector competition 6i.e. Tour Bperations8 o TI*:2 to be reduced and positioned in strategic locations %e# P o+ect Management ,nit to 'e set up to o"e see implementation o$ the maste plan ecommendations o =esponsible to the #inister o *haired by the 2ecretary Tourism o Public)Private 2ector mi0 %e# Technical -ssistance P og amme to ad"ise and di ect the implementation o$ the maste plan ecommendations o Team of four international specialists o >ong term and short term o To assist the #inister and P#1 in the implementation processes

 %e# Tou ism Funding o Proportion of revenue earned to be diverted back to the sector through the Pakistan Tourist board 6PT(8. 1ltimately self funding o 7unding to support the new marketing recommendations and initial establishment costs of PT( The Ma .eting &t ategy p oposed in the maste plan to un in tandem #ith the est uctu ing p og amme o Implement ) !o time lost o Prepare for ?5ear of the #ountains? and <isit Pakistan year That the indust y accepts a ma .et led policy as opposed to supply led o ;mphasis on marketing strategies o !o new capacity development required /mphasis to 'e placed on ma .et esea ch #ith continuous analysis o$ /0) ca ds and mo e $ e!uent tou ism su "eys o #ature $udgments in decision making o Bptimi ation of promotional spending Tou ism -#a eness p og ammes to 'e de"eloped th ough the PT12 P3T4Ms and educational institutions o *ultural awareness o ;conomic awareness Tou ism standa ds a e declining due to lac. o$ tou ism a#a eness and t aining. 3t is necessa y the e$o e that the human esou ces de"elopment st ategy ecommendations a e implemented o =eassessment of PITC# Darachi o Professional management o Professional trainers o 1pdated training syllabi o #obile training units -ll Legal and egulato y tou ism la#s and acts to 'e $o mulated2 updated and implemented o !ew hotel licensing and grading system

o 9ll accommodations to be registered and graded o !ew Tour Bperators 9ssociation Land use planning and /n"i onmental Management Technical -ssistance P og amme to 'e unde ta.en o Govemment/4TB to prepare pro$ect document &e#age T eatment and &olid 5aste Management P og amme o Government immediate action o #oratorium on all new developments in 2wat" !aran" #urree" Gilliat and the !orthern 9reas o >icensing control /sta'lish an /n"i onmental P otection -gency 6/P-7 Regional 8$$ice initially in the %o the n - eas o *o)ordination with public)private sector" !GBs and G(Bs o >ong term monitoring and evaluation %o the n - eas Tou ism )e"elopment Plan o *onservation and protection o *arrying capacity o 9ction Plan o Cun a <alley tourism action plan o >ong term environmental monitoring 4un9a Resou ces Management P og amme o Increase carrying capacity o Improve quality of life o ;mpower local communities :isito -#a eness P og amme o Priority tourism development area o <isitor better understanding of Pakistan:s natural" historic and cultural resources &uppo ting Policy

o The key proposals of the master plan require policy support from the Government. The following recommendations need adoption for the orderly development of the tourism sector for long term sustainability. Bnce adopted" the Governments position in the relevant sectors would incorporate the following policy statements of Government:s support to the tourism sector. The proposed policies can be classified in five broad headings: >egislation" #anagement" Brganisation and 7acilitation Investment" 7unding" Infrastructure" Transport" Ta0 and *oncessions #arketing" Promotion and Product Aevelopment ;nvironment" *onservation and Planning Cuman =esource Aevelopment and *ommunity Aevelopment

Legislation, Management, Organisation, Facilitation The Government recognizes the need for establishing the mechanisms required for the control and direction of tourism as well as providing the right atmosphere for tourists while Visiting Pakistan. Policy 1. The Government will provide the necessary legislation in respect of updating and modernizing the existing tourism acts and bring in laws supporting the tourism sector in upgrading standards at all levels. Policy 2. The Government will bring in legislation for new organization and promotional structures for the sustainable management of the tourism sector. Policy 3. The Government will review all the security constraints and requirements to facilitate the free movement of tourists in all parts of Pakistan. Policy 4. The Government will withdraw the constraints on photography and allow tourists the freedom to photograph all areas of scenic appeal. Policy 5. The Government will limit the need for police registration of tourists visiting Pakistan.