The Japanese love to travel. Some years ago a Japanese living in Karachi visited Switzerland. She took several sightseeing tours. What did she see? Lots of cows. What did she buy as a souvenir? Cow bells.
If cows and cow bells can sustain a thriving tourism industry which is ranked among the top ten, why is Pakistan, with such a wealth of natural, archaeological and historic sites, trailing way behind at number 103 on the tourism index?
Last Monday the World Economic Forum (WEF) launched its annual Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008, in which Pakistan ranked at 103 out of 124 countries because of its weak travel and tourism regulatory framework and low prioritisation of the industry by the government.
Countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives began to reorganise their tourism industry on modern lines in the 1980s. Today these countries attract millions of tourists and earn billions of dollars. Even the Tsunami did not dampen the spirit of foreign visitors. Neither has Sri Lanka's political terrorism, which at times has been as bad as the terrorism Pakistan is experiencing these days, discouraged tourists.
So whats with Pakistan? Why is a potential foreign exchanger earner like tourism allowed to go to seed? There is steady deterioration even in the little tourism there was. Pakistan has all the highest mountains in the world except Mount Everest. Till five years ago, mountaineers from all over the world made a beeling to Pakistan. Mountaineering is a sport which thrives on danger. Today even these brave souls do not visit our country. Most of them have been forbidden by their own countries.
Tour operators in Karachi who till the 1990s were organising sightseeing trips to the northern region have scrapped their old operation. Nearly all of them have found organising Hajj and Umra travel much more profitable. As for the government-run Pakistan Tourism, when was the last time you saw an advertisement of theirs? They say the northern region has become the main theatre of terror and thus virtually a "no-go" area such as we have in Karachi.
I think the officials of the Tourism Department are the only people in the country who are grateful for the terror that reigns in the northern areas. It has provided them a fine excuse for doing nothing to promote tourism. The region has become a "no-go" area only since last year, how can their poor performance be blamed on it?
Besides the natural attractions, Pakistan has a wealth of archaeological and historic sites of interest worldwide. The reason why tourism to these sites has all but disappeared is because of officialdom's misplaced sense of patriotism, and bigotry. Most of the archaeological sites, such as Taxila, Harappa, Moen-jo-Daro and Brahamanabad belong to the pre-Muslim era. The visual depictions of Hindu and Buddhist ideology has been vandalised. Heads on carved stone friezes gouged out, and actual sites allowed to deteriorate.
As for historic sites, these belong to the period before the creation of Pakistan, such as the Moghul gardens and buildings. Pakistan seems to have disowned them, too. School history books begin with a very brief mention of the older history of the subcontinent before launching into a detailed account of events that shaped freedom movements and led to the birth of Pakistan. Children grow up with practically no knowledge, or interest, in their rich archaeological and historical inheritance.
It is a known fact that tourism and travel is sustained through local and foreign participation. Nothing has ever been done on a continuous basis to organise the tourism and travel infrastructure, such as good roads, decent hotels catering to every pocket, entertainment and local arts and craft which are the source of souvenirs for visitors and of profit for the craftspersons.
Last December there were some visitors from America, a rarety nowadays. One of them wanted to buy picture postcards as a souvenir. Scouring Karachi for these postcards showed that even this humble source of income for jobless people has disappeared. Once there used to be dozens of young men who sold postcards in every shopping area of the city. Stationery shops always had lots of postcards.
I recall one vendor of postcards who knew a smattering of seven or eight languages. I had interviewed him. He knew how to say "Buy postcards. Very cheap. Five rupees only (which actually was a high price back in the 1960s)," and a few more sentences needed for his trade. He could say this in Russian, French, German, Japanese, English, Spanish, Italian, Swahili, Africans. That tells you how many foreigners frequently visited Pakistan.
On a trip to Moen-jo-Daro in the 1970s we stayed overnight at a hotel in Larkana. In the evening folk musicians arrived to entertain us. Today the hotel does not provide such entertainment. Most of us could not comprehend the words but the music was mesmerising.
Two weeks ago I was in Hala. The handicraft of Hala has deteriorated. Twenty years ago when I was in Hala, I purchased several household items, decoration pieces and dinnerware in Hala's famous blue pottery. I also purchased dozens of Hala's typical black-and-white printed cotton tablecloths and chaddars. This time I came back empty handed; every item was third rate, not worth spending money on.
In every handicraft shop the items in showcases were covered with dust, another sign of neglect. One set of soup bowls which looked fairly good, when taken out of the showcase and dusted proved to be misshapen, some bowls had incomplete decorative design and even the glaze was uneven. They looked like the handiwork of a learner. No self-respecting shopkeeper in the old days would have had such things for sale.
Karachi's Zainab Market is the largest handicraft market in the country. Today you cannot find the black or mustard colour cotton chaddars embroidered in pink silk which was made by women of Swat.
You wont find Hala pottery or Kashmore furniture. You will not find an authentic rilli here anymore. The market is slowly becoming a readymade clothes and leather goods market.
The neglect of travel and tourism is behind this. Does the government know how many people must have lost their source of income because of the neglect of travel and tourism? It is directly responsible for the slow extinction of many traditional arts and crafts.