In October 2006, just one year after the
2005 Kashmir earthquake,
The Guardian released what it described as "The top five tourist sites in Pakistan" in order to help the country's tourism industry.
[3] The sites included
Lahore,
The Karakoram Highway,
Karimabad and
Lake Saiful Muluk.
To promote Pakistan's unique and various cultural heritage, the
Pakistan 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.
[4]
In 2009, The World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism
Competitiveness Report ranked Pakistan as one of the top 25% tourist
destinations for its World Heritage sites. Ranging from mangroves in the
South, to the 5,000-year-old cities of the
Indus Valley Civilization which included
Mohenjo-daro and
Harappa.
[5]
In the year 2016 foreign tourists visiting Pakistan stood at 965,498
[6]
. Pakistan's tourism industry attracted an estimated of 1.1 million
foreign tourists annually in 2011 and 966,000 in 2012 contributing
$351 million and
$369 million respectively.
[7] Before declining to 565,212 in 2013 which contributed only
$298 million, in 2014, Pakistan received 530,000 foreign tourists contributing
$308 million.
[8]
By comparison, Pakistan's domestic tourism industry is estimated at 50
million domestic tourists who travel within the country on short trips
usually travelling between May to August.
[9] The largest tourism inflow in 2010 was from
United Kingdom, followed by
United States,
India and
China.
[10][11] In 2010
Lonely Planet
termed Pakistan as being "tourism's ‘next big thing’ for more years
than we care to remember. [But] world media headlines [always] send
things off the rails".
[12]