MINISTRY
By
Asem Mustafa Awan
ISLAMABAD
- Successive ministers of Tourism have made bold pronouncements about
promoting Tourism in Pakistan. Despite
this, the government has not seen fit to allocate adequate resources to
the relevant department.
The
offices have recently been moved from a conveniently situated building in
F 7/2 to an obscure hut behind the National Stadium. This is very
difficult to locate and puts a further barrier in the way of foreign
tourists seeking help and advice about visiting Pakistan's many tourist
treasures.
"This
bare building was without any modern facilities or comforts when the staff
of the Tourism department was asked to start work," said a reliable
source adding," As the necessary items were not forthcoming from the
authorities, the staff resorted to soliciting these from the private
sector tour operators. As a
result, items such as air conditioning units, furniture, carpets, and a
new computer have been donated."
This
dubious relationship must call into question the independence of the
Tourism ministry, which is suppose to be responsible for licensing and
policing the activities of said tour operators.
How
can foreign trekkers and mountaineers expect to have their legitimate
complaints about these companies acted upon by a government department
that has compromised itself in this way?
David
Klein leader of Hungarian expedition criticized the procedures and
functioning of the bureaucracy.
Besides
that he does not agree with the purposes for which they have been
developed they do not even serve those very purposes effectively.
He
pointed out that the forms and complicated
rules governing the mountaineering in Pakistan are outdated and
written with cumbersome and incorrect 'English'.
He
said,” The procedures are only good to discourage people from visiting
Pakistan.”
He
gave many examples of the in competency of the mountaineering section
stating that many of the forms are not very readable and we fill up the
forms during the debriefing that were 'loose sheets' and very dim.
The
ministry is continuously raising the fees not realizing that they will
lose a considerable market to India, Nepal, Tibet and China.
They
don't see the coming five years will be totally different. The WTO year of
the mountains is in 2002 and Pakistan must plan for it now before its too
late.
The
ministry officials were asked for their comments but they slammed the
phone on this correspondent.