Federal Minister for Tourism Atta ur Rehman has said the new tourism policy is likely to be announced in February or March 2011. The minister said, "I am serious, committed and determined to see revival of tourism in Pakistan. My aim is to place Pakistan once again on the map as one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the world."
He further said that they sought suggestions from concerned ministers of their respective provinces in the inter-provincial meetings before the natural calamity hit Pakistan in the form of floods and the matter of announcement of new tourism policy was delayed. Otherwise, the new policy should have been announced during this year.
Talking to newsmen here on phone on Friday he said that the new tourism policy is delayed because provincial governments, including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan besides Gilgit-Baltistan have not yet nominated their representatives for finalising its draft for approval and implementation.
He admitted that the draft of the new tourism policy has not been submitted to the cabinet for approval. He said that he had directed the provincial governments to nominate their representatives for the committee, which was constituted to read the draft and finalise recommendations with regards to proposals suggested by the concerned ministers of their respective provinces for implementation in the new tourism policy.
According to him, the Sindh province and the AJK have nominated their representatives while Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan have yet to perform this task. These provinces could not submit the names of their representatives because of torrential rains followed by devastating floods.
All attention remains diverted towards floods by the concerned ministers of their respective provinces and northern areas thus delaying the process of nomination by them resulting in delay in the new policy, sources said. As soon as the issue is resolved, the concerned provincial ministers are expected to give names of their representatives for going through the draft and finalise recommendations.
The chief of facilitation section in the Ministry of Tourism, Shaukat Zaman said that the new tourism policy is necessary in view of the recent floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Swat and Sindh province with reference to revival of tourism in the country. The official said that it would take another couple of months for the provincial heads to nominate their committee members for finalisation of the policy draft because of the recent floods and devastation caused by it in different parts of the country. As soon as the draft is finalised, it would be submitted to the cabinet for its review and approval.