Terrorism Effect On Tourism Industry In Pakistan Tourism Essay

terrorism Effect On tourism industry In Pakistan Tourism EssayFirst of exclusively we must know what is meant by the term Tourism. broadly the term tourism is taken as the visit and pass away to oppo office places thence home townsfolk or city. The term tour means to visit places whether they atomic moment 18 for picnics or for business purposes. Tourism can be defined as to traveling for recreational, leisure or business purposes.1Mostly business purposes are concerned less with the regard of tourism phenomena. People travel mostly for leisure, enjoyment, relaxation and to break the bend of their daily work life. People travel for numerous reasons that could beFor visiting their relatives in other geographical locationsFor visiting the places of their interests like monuments, forts, architectural buildings, museums and so onFor aid or for to witness each events such like Dubai Shopping festivals, concerts of famous singers and actors, Basant in Pakistan and India etc .For research purposes and for collecting data for research on raise topicsFor religious activities and worship such as Hajj and Umrah in Islam, Guru Nanak Devs festival in Sikhism, etc.For events like New Year, Christmas, Eid, Independence Day, etc.For medical purposes such as for better treatment opportunities, for better environment for health, etc.For higher education and better jobs and business opportunitiesFor exposure and adventurous purposesAnd there could be so m some(prenominal) reasons and purposes for traveling. The globe Tourism Organization defines tourers as passel who travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four (24) hours and non more than one consecutive course of instruction for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.2Tourism constancyTourism industry is one of the most important sectors of the nations economy. Tourism industry is ba sed upon the tourism policies made by administration, tourism development programs and projects, investments in the nutriment of the places for tourists, Ministry of tourism and entirely the factors and elements effecting the process and activity of tourism.In 2008, there were over 922 billion international tourist arrivals, with a growth of 1.9% as compared to 2007. In 2009, international tourists arrivals fell to 880 one thousand thousand, representing a worldwide decline of 4% as compared to 2008. The region most affected was Europe with a 6% decline.3RanksCountryUNWTO Regional food marketInternationaltouristarrivals(2009)4Internationaltouristarrivals(2008)5Internationaltouristarrivals(2007)61FranceEurope74.2 one billion million79.2million80.9million2USANorth America54.9million57.9million56million3SpainEurope52.2million57.2 million58.7 million4chinaAsia50.9 million53 million54.7 million5ItalyEurope43.2 million42.7 million43.7 million6UKEurope28 million30.1 million30.9 milli on7TurkeyEurope25.5 million25 million22.2 million8Germ whatsoeverEurope24.2 million24.9 million24.4 million9MalaysiaAsia23.6 million22.1 million21 million10MexicoNorth America21.5 million22.6 million21.4 millionThe World Tourism Organization reports the supra ten countries as the most visited from 2007 to 2009 by the number of international travelers.By the given table we can externalise that most of the top visited countries lie in the region of Europe continent. This also shows the importance of the tourism industrial sector importance in the economy of Europe. Ger numerous, France and Italy tourism receipts can be seen in the following table. The table shows the earnings of three developed states of Europe in tourism industry.CountryInternationalTourism taxation(2009)7InternationalTourismReceipts(2008)8InternationalTourismReceipts(2007)9France48.7billion$55.6billion$54.3billion$Italy40.2billion$45.7billion$42.7billion$Ger more34.7billion$40billion$36billion$We can see from the to a higher place table that how the tourism receipts of three important and developed countries of Europe rise and accrue during the period of 2007 to 2009.CountryInternationalTourismReceipts(2009)10InternationalTourismReceipts(2008)11InternationalTourismReceipts(2007)12France38.9billion$43.1billion$36.7billion$Italy27.8billion$30.8billion$27.3billion$Germany80.8billion$91billion$83.1billion$The World Tourism Organization reports above data that how much these three states spend on their tourism industry. German tourists are said to be the top spenders in the tourism Industry.Tourism industrial sector has great importance in each and e precise nations economy because its a great and taper source of generating foreign exchange rate.Pakistans Tourism IndustryPakistan is one of the really few countries which is not only if blessed by Cultural Heritage, Old Civilizations, Landscapes, Archaeological Ruins and Historic Monuments entirely also blessed by almost all kinds of weather a nd geographical areas. Pakistan is a destination that has so much to offer visitors from outside. By UNESCO World Heritage Site the list is hold by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. This list suggests catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural and natural importance to the unwashed heritage of humanity. Pakistan is also one of the states identified as a tourism site for international tourism activity. There are 6 sites identified by UNESCO World Heritage Site within the geographical boundaries of Pakistan as followedArchaeological Ruins at Moenjodaro, SindhBuddhist Ruins at Takht-i-Bahi and Neighboring City Remains at Sahr-i-Bahlol, Khyber PakhtunkhwaTaxila, PunjabLahore foregather and Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, PunjabHistoric Monuments of Thatta, SindhRohtas Fort, Punjab13UNESCO World Heritage Site not only makes the list but also provides funds and support for the maintenance of these sites and t o promote the tourism industrial sector of the state.Pakistan besides these 6 sites identified by UNESCO World Heritage Site has much more to offer tourists. Following are the sites other then the above 6 sites.Karakoram Highway through the endless peaks of the Karakoram MountainsArchitectural buildings and gardens of former Mughal capital city LahoreThe ancient bazaars of QuettaBeautiful beaches and the cosmopolitan streets of KarachiHill send and summer resorts like MurreeHiran Minar in Sheikhupura constructed by Emperor Jahangir a monument to Mansraj, one of his pet deerGurdwara Guru Nanak Temple Nankana Sahab.Mausoleums like Tomb of Jahangir, Tomb of Anarkali, and Khari Shareef etc.Changa Manga a planted forest and a wildlife center in Lahore District, PunjabCities like Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, etc containing entertainment sites like parks, restaurants, hotels, picnic areas, safari parks, cinemas, theatres, art exhibitions, concerts, dance clubs etcLandscapes like Naraan, Ka ghaan, Jheel Saif-ul-Malook, Siri Paaye, K2 cumulation, Hunza and Chitral vale etcAnd there are many more magnificent places in different areas of the states and is hard to count them and show them all in one list.During 1993, Pakistan received 0.379 million foreign tourists recording an increase of 7.7 per cent compared to previous years. Pakistan has earned Rs. 126 million US dollars in 1993 from foreign tourists indicating an increase of 5.4 per cent compared to 1992.14Pakistan with its diverse cultures, people and landscapes has attracted 0.7 million tourists to the country. Its almost the double of that a decade ago. Before the Global economic crisis over the world Pakistan received more than 500,000 tourists annually.15In October 2006, just one year after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, The Guardian (also formerly known as The Manchester Guardian) which is a British national daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group, released The top v tourist sites in Pakistan in order to help the countrys tourism industry.16These sites are as followedTaxila, PunjabCity Lahore, PunjabThe Karakoram Highway is the highest road in the world, winding through the Karakoram mountain range and connecting to ChinaIn the lush Hunza valley, the sleepy village of Karimabad is a tourist oasis.An exhilarating jeep drive from the resort town of Narran lie the hitherto waters and snow-capped mountains of Lake Saif-ul-Malook17To promote Pakistans unique and mixed cultural heritages, the Prime Minister launched the Visit Pakistan marketing campaign in 2007. This campaign involved various events throughout the year including fairs and religious festivals, regional sporting events, various arts and craft shows, folk festivals and several openings of historical museums.18The Tourism industry of Pakistan is growing with very slow speed. It can progress with rapid growth. Because of the en courage up in the foreign investment and funding, Pakistan is becoming more capable of buildin g and improving its nucleotide including air networks and facilities of movements of cargo and inter-city travel which are much improved and still improving day by day. Roads like Motor Way and Karakoram lane promoted traveling so much. But still the government has not been able to take the tourism market seriously within Pakistan. There are many reasons for this like Political instability, Crisis situations like Earthquake and Flood, tourist hooks which have not been funded or protected due to the government giving the tourism market a low priority. But I have noticed that besides these problems and instable situations, one of the major reasons in the decline of Tourism industry in Pakistan is the high holy terror of terrorism attacks and bomb blasts occurrence in Pakistans major and capital Cities. terrorism is hitting very hardly on the reputation of Pakistans relation with peace.To understand the phenomena of act of terrorism we will now discuss about it and then sanitary check the effects and its influence on the Tourism industrial sector of Pakistan.TerrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror curiously as a means of coercion.19The definitions of terrorism is those violent acts which are intended to create fear and terror among the people, are perpetrated and performed for a religious, political or ideological goals, and its deliberate targets are the bleak civilians. After the incident of 911 collapse of World Trade Centre in 2001 kinfolk 11 at New York City, the whole world become crazy of the phenomena of the term Terrorism. Terrorism not only affected the national security measures but also changed the view of peoples trust and relations with each other. Terrorism is the most serious issue of the international relations among the nations. Terrorism created numerous disputes among the different states and people. Mostly the disputes arises among the religious groups and the mostly the religious groups are targeted to Muslims. Although L arge numbers of Muslims are against such act of violence and deadly bomb blasts. The Groups which are considered to be creditworthy for such terrorist activities are mostly considered to be the Muslim group called AL-Qaeda.AL-Qaeda is a militant Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a fundamentalist Sunni movement calling for global Jihad. It is considered a terrorist organization.20AL-Qaeda has attacked many innocent civilians and targeted many military locations and offices in various countries, most notably the kinsfolk 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. in 2001. Im not suggesting that the AL-Qaeda is the only group which performs the terrorism activities. It could be possible that many terrorism activities were performed by the local groups, by any political party or by any extremist group to accomplish or gain the success of their own interests. Thats why fr om onwards I will use the term Terrorists which is not referred to any specific group but to the people who perform such violence and deadly activities which are intended to create fear and terror among the people to achieve the interests of their own. Recent Attacks of terrorism shows that the new targets of Terrorists are the followingForeigners, tourists, travelers, and Office holders specially of the posts in foreign statesDiplomat residences and Diplomats office bearersHotels and Restaurants which are mostly the center field of attraction of foreigners, tourists and travelers.Foreigner Office bearers in local stateEmbassies of other states specially the European and American embassiesAir network and Air lines such as Flights, cloak-and-dagger jets, air planes, etc.Sites which are dedicated to tourists and travelers such as Railway stations, air ports, sea ports, etc.Air ports are specially endangered targeted site of terrorists because large number of foreigners uses this fac ility of transportation. Terrorists are today unstoppable because of their tactic of Suicide attack often called as suicide bombers. The world is so worried by such tactic because firstly its hard to stop such person to explode himher self and secondly these suicide bombers are trained and macrocosm mind washed to make themselves to explode themselves. Although USA declared the war against terrorism but the truth is that terrorists and terrorism activities are beyond the control of any state or agency.Terrorism AttacksThe concept of terrorist attacks are as old as the warfare and the geographical boundaries disputes but mostly the incident of United States, September 11 2001 is considered the starting date of massive attacks of terrorism in nations. Usually when ever we talk about Start of Terrorism or increase in the terrorism attacks, 911 is the incident which people usually recall to their minds. No doubt in it that after the 911 incident the terrorism activities increased with a great boost and almost each and every country of the world became the victim of the Suicidal attacks and Bomb Blasts. Thousands of people lost their lives. Following is the table of international terrorist attacks by closing toll.21EstimateNameCountryCityYear2,976September11, 2001 AttacksUnited StatesNew York20017962007 Qahtaniya barragesIraqQahtaniya2007334Beslan School SiegeRussiaBeslan2004209Mumbai train barrage firesIndiaMumbai2006191March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombingsSpainMadrid20041362007 Karachi bombingPakistanKarachi2007116Super ferry 14 bombingPhilippines20041122006 Digampathana bombingSri LankaDigampathana20061002008 Kandahar bombingAfghanistanKandahar2008902005 Sharm el-Sheikh attacksEgyptSharm el-Sheikh200574July 2010 Kampala attacksUgandaKampala201027+July 2010 Zahedan bombingsIranZahedan201062009 International Islamic University bombingPakistanIslamabad2009We can see in the above table that why the incident of 911 is considered to be the boost up in the terroris m activities. By the help of death tool Terrorists attacks table we can see that the largest death and loss of lives occurred in the attacks of World Trade Center in 2001. The attacks after 2001 in different cities and states dont even come up to half of the death casualties appeared in 911 attacks. The world policies and Issues of National protection changed overnight after the incident of 911. USA becomes very strict in the immigration policies and also in the approval of Visas. Not only USA but also many developed states like UK, Germany, France, Canada and many European states adopted the strict policies of Visa approval and immigration policies.Terrorism Attacks in PakistanPakistan also becomes the victim of terrorist attacks after the 911 incident. Following is the table derived from World Terrorist Attacks by death tool.22EstimateNameCityYear1362007 Karachi bombingKarachi200711728 October 2009 Peshawar bombingPeshawar200911010 October 2008 Orakzai bombingOrakzai20081052010 L akki Marwat suicide bombingLakki Marwat2010104Mohmand situation attackMohmand Agency201098May 2010 attacks on Ahmadi mosques in LahoreLahore201072+March 2010 Lahore bombingsLahore2010702008 Wah bombingWah200858April 2010 Kohat bombingsKohat2010562008 Ahmedabad bombingsAhmedabad200854celestial latitude 2009 Lahore attacksLahore200954Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombingIslamabad2008505 April 2010 Peshawar bombingsPeshawar201050July 2010 Lahore bombingsLahore2010482009 Jamrud mosque bombingJamrud2009472008 Parachinar bombingParachinar2008432009 Karachi bombingKarachi200938October 2009 Lahore attacksLahore200938December 2009 Rawalpindi attackRawalpindi200935November 2009 Rawalpindi bombingRawalpindi2009352009 Lahore bombingLahore200935September 2008 Peshawar bombingPeshawar200833December 2009 Dera Ghazi Khan bombingDera Ghazi Khan200930February 2010 Khyber Mosque bombingKhyber Agency201025+February 2010 Karachi bombingsKarachi20102519 April 2010 Peshawar bombingPeshawar2010232009 Pakistan Army General Headquarters attackPunjab200919February 2010 Khyber bombingKhyber201016January 2010 Bajaur bombingBajaur201012December 2009 Lower Dir mosque bombing PakistanLower Dir200910February 2010 Lower Dir bombingLower Dir201082008 Danish embassy bombing in IslamabadIslamabad200882009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket teamLahore200962009 International Islamic University bombingIslamabad2009We can see in the table that 7 terrorist attacks occurred in Lahore, 3 terrorist attacks occurred in Capital City Islamabad and 3 terrorist attacks occurred in Karachi, which are not only the major cities of Pakistan but also the centre of Tourists to Pakistan. During the period of 2007 to 2010 the total estimate of death casualties is more then 1660 (Sixteen hundred and sixty) people. The security issue is the big issue in every city of Pakistan especially in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. We can see that large number of Security measures have been taken to prevent such disastrous situa tions. The terrorists attacks in International Islamic University at Islamabad in 2009 not only terrorized the National Security but also lend great impacts upon the security measures of Educational and other institutions. umpteen terrorists attacks in Shopping Malls and local Markets raised the question of how to increase the Security measures? Citizens are even more terrified by the Bomb blasts in caparison Societies like Iqbal Town, Samanabad and Model Town. The general behavior of citizens of Pakistan is that they are not safe and the measures which are taken for Local and National Security are useless. The security measures at local level have been very much increased with a dramatic change in behaviors of Citizens. Four years earlier citizens wont stick for an unknown car parked in there alleys but now situation is so different. Even kids now notices unknown parked Cars and activities of strangers in their streets or areas. Different people have different opinions about the se Terrorism attacks but these Terrorism Attacks have influenced each and every body from young to old, student to worker, man of affairs to employee, Citizens to Foreigners.Terrorism effect on Tourism IndustryTerrorism Attacks and Terrorists activities has great impact on the Tourism industrial Sector. Terrorism has a great and direct relation with the policies of tourism industry. Terrorism deeply influences the policies of Visa approval and the immigration process policies which plays an important role in the process of tourism activities and movement. We can see that after the 911 incident, USA termed very strict policies in the Visa approval and immigration especially for the citizens of Islamic states and for the Muslims. The strict policies are not only followed by USA but also by many other developed states like Canada, Australia, as well as many European states like Germany, France, Norway, UK, Italy, Denmark and many more. Underdeveloped states like India also followed suc h strict policies. The Strict Visa approval policies and the immigration policies are made to secure and promote the National Security of the states and nations. Terrorism attacks and terrorism activities influences directly the Visa approval and immigration policies. As the state will suffer more terrorism attacks the state will relent less Visas and Immigration to the foreigners. The state will also Grant less Visas and Immigration to the foreigners and citizens of those states where there exists Great Terrorism Activities and where Terrorists attacks had been occurred. The Activities of Terrorism has negative effect on the grant of Visas and Immigrations.Although today the world became a global village after the inventions of better transportations (like Airplanes, Air Jets, Ships, Electric Trains and Fast cars like Ferrari, Jaguar, and BMW etc) and much improved infrastructures. make better infrastructure dramatically increased the tourists movements in the world but after the se terrorists attacks, we can see appearance of decline in the Tourism Industry World wide. There is a great and increasingly decline in tourists arrivals in each year. The major reason for the decline in the Tourism economy is the Terrorism Activities.Terrorism effect on Tourism Industry in PakistanWe can see that large number of Terrorist attacks occurred in the city Lahore which is also a tourist and cultural hub of the Pakistan. Lahore is the city with many architectural buildings, Gardens of Mughal period, Monuments like Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore Fort, Mosques of Mughal Period, Museums, Hotels and other entertainment sectors like Cinemas, Restaurants, and Family Parks etc. After these terrorist attacks Lahore is considered the most dangerous city in Pakistan to Travel. Since 2007 till 2010 there have been 7 terrorists attacks in which more then 355 people are killed. As we have discussed earlier that there had been more then 36 terrorist attacks since 2007 in which more then 166 0 death casualties appeared. The estimated deaths could be far more then calculated. After these terrorists attacks the number of tourists are declining each year, especially in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. Various campaigns are formed to attract tourist from around the world and to promote the Tourism economy of the state but still the number of tourists has been dropping each year constantly. This year it dropped by 6% as compared to the figures of last year data. Its the harsh image, bad reputation of the political system and indistinct National security measures that is discouraging traveling and tourism economy to promote.Pakistans Minister of Tourism sees the situation very differently and says Things are not good in many parts of the world. There are crime problems. There are slums. There are terrorist problems. Sri Lanka has had the Tamil Tigers for decades and people still go, if you think where you are difference should be completely peaceful, you will be constricted i n your options. Being a tourist in the 21st Century requires a little courage23But people dont travel and dont perform tourism activities to show their courage or bravery. The act of Tourism is in itself an activity of both mind and carnal Relaxation. According to me how Minister of Tourism can use these lines to promote Tourism economy of the state? Or what kind of excuse it is for decline in Tourism economy? I think its funny that our Minister of Tourism Industry suggests that besides the instable political system, crisis situations like Flood and Earthquakes, and Terrorists Attacks, we should not be afraid to travel to Pakistan. How is it possible that foreigners and tourists change their behavior and thinking like this when citizens of Pakistan are seeking for immigration opportunities and to abandon their Home towns and Birth place. You can see by yourself that people are always cursing Government and politics especially with regarding to the issues of Inflations and Terrorism Activities. Citizens are so terrified to go to mosques for Prayers and even to go to Markets for shopping all because of these Terrorist Attacks and Activities.The World Economic Forum produced the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report in 2009. The report provides a cross-country analysis of the drivers of competitiveness in travel and tourism, providing useful comparative information for making business decisions and additional value to governments wishing to improve their travel and tourism environments.24Pakistan bedded 113 out of 130 countries on the List of Global countries chart which should be visited and which are the great deal of Tourism activities. Last year Pakistan ranked 111 out of 124 countries, so in naive realism Pakistans ranking remains stagnant. On the other side Pakistans neighbor India ranked 11th in the Asian region and 62nd in the world overall.Although Pakistan ranked well in price competitiveness in the industry mainly because of low fuel prices, hig h purchasing power parity, and the extent of effect of taxation. Pakistan also ranked well in the number of heritage and cultural sites, and creative industr