The PTI is betting big on tourism and has identified zones in each province for development of facilities and infrastructure. A new visa regime has also been rolled out where tourists can apply for visas online which a pleasant change given the hoops international tourists had to jump through to get a visa for Pakistan.

Recently, there has been talk of introducing tourism policing based on the model used in Thailand, which is also a good initiative. There are also plans of government certified accommodation, which will make sure that at least a standardised service could be provided to tourists ensuring quality assurance.

However, most of these are intrinsic measures and are aimed at developing local capabilities and infrastructure. There also needs to be a solid marketing plan by the government, which will be instrumental in attracting tourists.

With the plan of boosting tourism, marketing needs to be rethought in a different paradigm. Tourist transit hubs such as the Dubai and Thailand airports are good places to launch marketing of tourism related activities. This connects with the broader branding exercise that needs to be taken at the national level similar to the Incredible India initiative or the Malaysia Truly Asia branding

India has invested massively on these kinds of airport advertisements and there is no shortage of posters at the Dubai airport for example where Kerala and Incredible India are being promoted while advertisements are also being run on Middle Eastern air carriers.

Transit hubs are especially useful for marketing purposes as research shows that most tourists choose their holiday destinations months in advance. Then there is also the massive passenger traffic at major transit airports which translates into maximum outreach.

At the same time the government should also come up with a solid online marketing campaign, which promotes Pakistan as a desirable destination. Again, the tourism ministry of India has done a good job with this and Pakistan can take a leaf or two out their book. More on this in the coming days.