KARACHI: The tourism industry on Saturday expressed concern regarding downfall of the industry.
They said they were running their businesses on soft terms in order to facilitate travellers economically.
“The main impediment in our sector business downfall can surely be attributed to ‘booking.com’ and other similar websites and applications that are unkind to further develop our travel and tourism industry,” they asserted.
Habibullah Siddiqui, senior vice chairman Central Standing Committee of Tourism and Travel on Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry said, “Our industry people are facing difficulties being caused by the commercial institutions, as they do not bear any stake in Pakistan. They are hitting hard on our industry and if these international players want to get business, they should register themselves with the revenue and taxation departments like Federal Board of Revenue, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan etc.”
“The industry requests to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block all such kinds of websites and applications who are not just damaging the travel and tourism services providers but also influencing fiscal policies of the government to some extent.”
“However, 2016 is said to be a recovering period for local tourism. We are anticipating that country would once again become successful to attract international tourists who had been deserted for the past 16 years on account of terrorism.”
In 2015, Pakistan attracted around 5,634 foreign tourists. The World Economic Forum in its biennial report ranked Pakistan 125th in the world in terms of foreign tourists.
The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation is also requested to ponder into the matter and chalk out concrete measures in order to save the tourism sector from unchecked and unauthorised institutions’ activities.
