Pakistan govt aims to boost religious tourism

Pakistan Punjab provincial government is aiming at attracting Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religious tourists with a $ 60 million project.

Officials said the Punjab government’s $60 million dollars project with the assistance of World Bank could be a “game changer” to boost religious tourism with the help of public-private partnership.

“If all goes well hundreds of thousands of Sikh, Buddhist and Hindu may start visiting Pakistan on regular basis,” Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, first elected Sikh member of Punjab Assembly, said, adding that the project to promote religious tourism will boost the local hotel industry. Mr Arora said that World Bank team’s one visit to meet the stakeholders is complete. “The next pre-appraisal mission of World Bank will take place in October this year. The 60 million dollars project will start in January 2017. There are 25 million Sikhs living around the world and if we get to target only 10 per cent of them that would be the turning moment in uplifting the country’s economy,” he said.

He said being member of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee he aimed to increase the numbers of Sikh Yatrees coming to Pakistan.

He said the private sector had been engaged to build hotels in view of the expected increase in number of pilgrims coming to Pakistan.

“For example Saudi Arabia in 1960s did not have huge infrastructure but they realised that without uplifting the country’s religious tourism industry they would not be able to turn themselves into rising Arabian Peninsula country and world’s fastest growing economy. For Sikhs Pakistan is just like their Makkah and Madina as all the sacred religious sites of Sikhs are in Pakistan,” he said.

“India’s Golden Temple in Amritsar attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims annually but if we thoroughly compare tourism industry between India and Pakistan, the latter has more potential to grow. Sikhs across the world have shown excitement and interest in the project,” Mr Arora added.

The project included restoration and conservation of five Gurdawras included Nankana Sahib Gurdwara, Gurdwara Sacha Sauda (Lahore-Faisalabad Railway Line), Hasan Abdal Gurdwara, Kartarpur Gurudwara (Narowal) and Gurdwara Rori Sahib Eminabad (Gujranwala). It also includes the restoration of Buddhist sites in Taxila. The project also includes Construction of a Sikh Heritage and Cultural Museum, 220 guest rooms and a three star hotel in Nankana Sahib.