With the arrival of the head of the Dawoodi Bohra community, Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, Karachi hosted the Ashara after more than two decades. Tens of thousands of Bohras from all over the world came and stayed in Karachi and spent their foreign exchange in the city.
Roads got made, hotels got filled, buildings got painted, and rickshaw walas ferried Bohras to and from their Taheri Masjid in Saddar. The flurry of economic activity generated from the largest religious tourism event hosted by Pakistan in recent years is unfortunately not a yearly thing; next year some other city in some other country will be the recipient.
While state provided much needed security, logistics and accommodations were handled by community organizers. Many locals hosted the visitors in the homes. This shows the lack of government investment and cooperation as regards to Pakistan’s capacity to attract religious tourism that can net millions in foreign exchange and promote Pakistan’s soft image abroad.
Among religious places with tourist potential in Pakistan are the holiest sites of Sikhism. Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj who founded Sikhism was born in Nankana Sahib and died in Kartarpur, Punjab. Three of the most important pilgrimage sites for Sikhism are located in Pakistan.
A World Bank study estimates that if proper facilities were provided and marketing efforts made, tourism from the Sikh diaspora could easily reach 30,000 tourists per year. If the security situation were to significantly improve, the number of tourists could exceed 300,000 per year. The economic impact would then increase from $5 million to an estimated $300 million per year.
The research indicates that Pakistan has a captured market for Sikh tourism. Two-fifths of Sikh survey respondents consider it a religious duty to visit the shrines in Pakistan. 83 percent of the Sikh diaspora in Canada, the UK and the US would like to visit religious sites and shrines in Pakistan.
Pakistan has as yet been unable to tap into this religious tourism market. For example, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, attracts approximately 10 million visitors per year despite being considered only the fourth holiest Sikh site. In Pakistan, there is a quota with only a total of 7,500 Sikh visitors with Indian passports allowed each year. This quota is ridiculously small since there are nearly 30 million Sikhs in the world, most of which live in India. However, even this quota is difficult to fill due an arduous visa application process.
Surveys conducted by World Bank of Sikhs living in Britain, Canada and US estimate that $2,700 would be generated over ten days per person. Additionally, Pakistani tour operators say that the average Diaspora family spends $3,000-5,000 on shopping once they visit. Basic math indicates the volume of economic impact foregone.
Yet the infrastructure around these holy sites is inadequate. There is lack of accommodation and some of these sites are in poor shape and require preservation. And this is in addition to visa restrictions.
Pakistan has been blessed with the equivalence of Mecca and Medina for Sikhs. Worldwide, approximately 40 percent of tourism revenues are linked to religious tourism but in Pakistan the government policy has thus far largely deterred religious tourists despite the millions who want to visit the holy shrines.
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