Destination Pakistan
(The article was first published in Nov-Dec 2017 edition of Aurora.)
In the past five years, domestic tourism in Pakistan has increased exponentially. According to the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), it is estimated that 80 million tourists travelled within Pakistan, mostly between May and August. The numbers have been growing since 2013. Several factors have contributed to this growth, including better infrastructure, increased awareness about travel-worthy places and a rise in the number of tour operators.
Beyond the north
The northern parts of Pakistan have historically been the most popular places for domestic tourism – and for good reason, as northern Pakistan offers some of the most scenic landscapes found on the face of our planet, as well as a pleasant summer climate. However, there has now been a surge in tourism in the southern parts of the country to spots that were previously little-known as tourist attractions; these include Gorakh Hill, Gwadar and National Hingol Park. Their popularity started to rise when a few tour operators began offering tours to these locations. They shared their photos on social media and prompted other groups to start offering tours there as well. These spots have now become mainstream tourist attractions. People who found it cost- or time-prohibitive to fly from southern Pakistan to Islamabad in order to go up north, have turned to these spots in the south for weekend trips.