Pakistan tourism industry can get a major boost if a comprehensive and tourist-focused strategy is put in motion, and one prime sector is the Buddhist tourist sector, said General Srilal Weerasooriya, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka.
In a meeting with Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Majyed Aziz, during his visit to KCCI on Saturday he said that Buddhists from all over the world would visit Pakistan to see the Buddhist relics and sites such as Texila, Gandhara and Harappa.
He said that just in Sri Lanka there are 14 million Buddhists and many are keen to visit Pakistan. He observed that last year two delegations of Buddhist priests visited Pakistan for this purpose and suggested that to facilitate the Buddhist tourism, it was imperative that PIA should schedule two weekly flights on the Lahore-Colombo route.
He said that PIA Chairman Tariq Kirmani should take the initiative in this regard. General Weerasooriya further said that Buddhists from Myanmar, Japan and other South Asian countries could come here if an attractive tour package of one week was developed for them. Pakistan tourism officials should work with tour operators to develop the package as well as the infrastructure, he added.
The High Commissioner said that the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement had not been as successful as envisioned, as bilateral trade was limited to a few items and not more than $200 million.
He called for more imports of tea from his country and said that Sri Lanka was ready to source textile from Pakistan. He said that the proposed Ceylon Tea Centre to be set up in Karachi was still in the planning stage. General Weerasooriya invited Pakistani investors to set up power plants in his country since there was shortage of power and the returns were very profitable. He said that Sri Lanka was embarking on a program to explore oil and hoped that this would bring fruitful results for Sri Lanka.-PR
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