Tourism in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will get a boost after the launch of commercial helicopter flight service by Kashmir Air. The initiative was launched by President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday.

The President said that “the natural beauty of the region has made it a top tourism spot in the world. It is important that the resources are utilized by the people to earn a living. The private sector can play an important role in promoting tourism in the region.”

The president inaugurated the launch of commercial helicopter flight operations and visited a newly established high-end private school and the flagship campus of a healthcare Information Technology company at Bagh in AJK. He was also given a briefing on the construction work of a hospital in nearby Abbaspur.He urged the government of AJK to fully utilize the tourism opportunities presented by the heavenly landscape.

He urged the private sector to be more hospitable to the visiting tourists. He said that “tourism holds the key to Pakistan’s soft image in the world. Both the government and the private sector need to work closely to promote sustainable tourism in the region.”

“Tourism can serve as one of the prime industries of Pakistan. We can create jobs, reduce poverty, earn foreign exchange, and reduce the pressure on our cities if we promote and develop our tourism sector. We need to learn from countries like Thailand, Türkiye, and Switzerland. They earn billions of dollars annually through their tourism industry,” he added.

“An integrated approach to tourism planning in AJK should be adopted. A careful assessment of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of tourism on the region should be conducted, besides establishing linkages between stakeholders, businesses, resources and tourism activities,” he continued.

He highlighted the human resource of the country and said that Pakistan has a lot of youth who could take entrepreneurial activities to make tourism industry a success. The same holds true for women. “If technical and vocational training is provided to women, they can become partners in the success story of our tourism industry,” he continued.

He said that by making use of digital technologies, Pakistan’s tourism industry can integrate itself with international markets. “Services like Airbnb and others are multibillion-dollar enterprises. We need to learn from their business models so that we can attract tourists from every corner of the globe. We need to adopt digital technologies in every industry, least of which is tourism,” he added.

“IT also holds the promise of helping women better their socio-economic conditions. It has opened up new avenues for women to explore and benefit from. They can work online for any client in any part of the world from the safety of their homes. For example, Meta has trained 5000 Pakistani women to sell their services online. Wages for services online are also high as compared to menial jobs in the city,” he added.

He highlighted the Prime Minister’s Digi-Skills program, which has benefitted 2.4 million people from all academic backgrounds. He reiterated the role of women and argued for their participation in tourism industry in a safe and healthy working environment.

“Low women’s employment rate in Pakistan is not a good sign. It is as low as 24%. This shows that a lot of our human potential is being wasted away. Islam has allowed women to work and participate in public life. Islam has made it compulsory to give women their due share in inheritance. Sadly, we have not realized the truth of our religious teaching,” he said.

He said, “health is an important indicator of economic well-being. We need a lot of healthcare facilities which provide excellent services to the people. Health card scheme of the previous government is a reflection of this understanding. It is highly optimistic to see that telecare health facilities are being established in mountainous region of AJK. It will go a long way to improve the health of our citizens.”

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk