A Few Humble Suggestions
Being a die hard supporter of promotion of tourism in Southern Pakistan that is Sindh and Baluchistan, and a well traveled person in the region, I believe that South is more diverse than North of Pakistan in terms of tourism that is under explored. South has Sea, Rivers, Lakes, Dams, Islands, Volcanoes, Mountains, Waterfalls, Deserts, Historical and Archaeological sites, Necropolises, Forts, English era and Pakistan movement sites, Religious spots, Sufi Shrines, Folk tales sites, Natural wonders and so on.
What it needs, regularization of tourism activities and efforts. In my humble opinion following steps are basic needs in southern tourism industry and it will become a big source of revenue for the provincial governments.
Tourism Policy: First of all Sindh/ Baluchistan should have a Tourism policy each, which I could not find via google and my contacts. For how long it will be business as usual.
Regulatory Body: to implement this policy, to hire and train locals as guides, porters, and drivers, to regularize private sector as well and to set up a trustworthy feedback and complain management system.
Promotion and management of tourism sites: There are lots and lots of sites that can be categories as follows:
- Ancient Archeological sites: Moinjo daro, Mehargarh, Cave City etc.
- English Era Historical sites: Saddar Karachi
- Religious sites: Nani mandir, Sadh belo etc.
- Sufi Shrines and Festivals
- Folk Tales sites: Bhanbor, Sassi punoo
- Coastal and water sites: Beach, Lakes, Rivers, Dams
- Pakistan Movement/ political site: Ziyarat, Quaid residence, various contract signing places/ Bhuto's Tomb
- Necropolises n Forts
- Natural Wonders: Mula Chutook, Hingol, Astola, Gawader
- Regional Cultural Tourism: Ajarak making, Tharparkar life, etc.
- Seasonal Tourism: Mango Festival, Khujoor Festival
There is a dire need to promote these sites to the target population or travelers so that people other than social media users may also know and visit these sites. Schools, colleges, universities and professional institutes may be approached for customized tours from the same province or from other provinces. Like Panjab University’s Archeology / History department’s students would love to visit Mehargarh or Moinjodaro. Why not..!
Direction boards are necessary. Recently I have to ask at least four locals for Manchar lake from Sehwan. There was not a single signboard on the road.
Plus the sites should be taken care of properly. Cleanliness, repair and maintenance should be regular. New sites should also be explored and developed with the help of local travelers.
Water tourism needs special attention. This sector has lot of potential that need to be explored. Beaches need to be developed, water sports need to be introduced along with essential gadgets and safety measurements, Beach activities, deep sea activities, underwater activities, lakes related activities, there is so much to do on water front in public sector. And private sector needs regularization.
Accessibility: next important aspect is accessibility to these sites. It includes proper roads and transportation services. For roads, highways across Sindh and Baluchistan are very state-of-the-art type but there are no rest areas along the roads in Baluchistan and not even in Sindh. In Sindh there are fuel pumps that have washrooms but these washroom are not clean most of the times. In Baluchistan even proper fuel pumps are not available. Further inland/ access roads to the tourist destinations are not in very good condition and are narrow. Especially in Baluchistan most of the roads get away with flash floods during rain.
Regarding transport up to the date, tourists if not travelling with any commercial tourist group, manage transport on their own. There are places that are not easy to access via normal cars. Especially in most of Baluchistan we need four by four vehicles. Such as Gorakh in Sindh and Mola chutook in Baluchistan we need jeeps and the locals make quite a good fortune out of it. There is monopoly of a few people and they charge whatever they want.
There should be a regulatory mechanism like PEMRA or OGRA to regulate transport sector for tourism purpose that regulate fares, train local drivers and guides etc., where citizen may approach if they have any feed back or complain. Regional TDCs or Tourism Department may take the responsibility.
Accommodation: in most places proper accommodation facilities are not available. Especially in Baluchistan as the tourist places are very far from populated areas. No washroom, no rest areas etc. coz the clientele in Tourism sector is very low. There is a need to build and take care of rest houses, hostels, huts, and camping areas in these places. Local labor force should be hired for the purpose and trained accordingly.
In Sindh, there are STDC Motels/ Rest-houses that are for well off class, and there are private rest houses that have various prices depending on the facilities. There is a need to develop more rest houses and camping sites (as are in Northern Areas) with washroom facilities where people can camp after paying affordable fee.
Communication: Communication facilities at tourist destination are a must. People want to be connected with their families and friends while travelling. Good strength of mobile and internet signals would increase tourist influx in Baluchsitan especially.
Guide and Porter services: in Southern Pakistan there is no concept of trained guides and porters or even untrained ones. There is a kind of Gadi Nasheen system prevailing in all tourist places. Some local influentials have occupied one of each tourist places and they monopolize, dominate and sometimes their behavior is discouraging. They simply refuse people's entry at any place. Or they try to rob travelers and tourist by charging them high costs. Government regulation is must to take care of these mis-haps.
Baluchistan has many beautiful tourist destinations that are natural wonders and therefore are very rough. People can not reach there own their own. They need proper guides and porters to carry their stuffs so that they can walk on these rough treks and see those places just like people do in North. There should be local hiring of porters, guides and drivers, they should be trained properly and provide services.
Security and Safety: Baluchistan is SAFE but people are scared of travelling in Baluchistan specially from the most populated province. Let people know how safe it is. Government should accept and publicize what areas have law and order issues and what areas are safe.
Minimum first aid medical services should be compulsory at each tourism point and sea guards on the beaches. Harassment free atmosphere is compulsory for female and family travelers.
Travel Advisories: provincial tourism departments must issue travelling advisories and guidelines regarding which month is better to travel to which destination, about weather, terrain conditions and what precautions are required while travelling in Baluchistan. A single mobile app can be developed for easy access to all these information.
Once there was a signboard on Zero point at Makran Coastal Highway that informed travelers that they must carry extra tire, food, water, petrol etc. but now it is not there and neither on any other highway.
Registration of private tour operators: with social media evolution there has been a mushrooming growth of private tour operators. Every Tom, Dick and Harry is now a tour operator, their office is a mere Facebook page and manager is a WhatsApp number. That’s all.
Provincal Tourism departments in collaboration of FBR and Federal government should register them all with a certain minimum standard of services and fee structure. Unregistered tour operators must be discouraged or fined for substandard services or even banned from providing services.
Complain and feedback system: must be developed so that customers of these private tour operators can give feedback or launch a complain if there is any. And the complain should be taken care of properly as PEMRA / OGRA are doing good job for their consumers.
Family & Female Friendly Tourism: Last but not the least, make all those places family and female friendly. And do not forget the people with special needs. There should be ramps on each site, Wheelchair as well.
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Tourism in South:
