On Monday, October 30, 2023, Mr. Aftab-ur-Rehman Rana, Honorary Managing Director of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation, delivered a talk to the participants of 34^th SMC on “Tourism Industry”. He started his discourse by explaining that tourism was expanding globally and had crossed the figure of 4 billion arrival per day in 2019. He also elucidated the impact of tourism in the economy both directly and indirectly. He spoke about the dampening effect of Covid on global tourism industry leading to decline of tourism by 72%.

He then explained how Pakistan has a lot of tourism potential due to its unique landscape, bio-diversity and cultural diversity. Outside the polar region, Pakistan’s northern area has the most glaciated regions. The ancient civilizations of Indus, Gandhara also offer a lot of scope for attracting tourists. The Gandhara sites, he said could be used to promote religious tourism. The guest speaker specially highlighted the variety of cultures found in Pakistan. Language, dresses and cuisines he said change after every 40/50 kilometers. He also informed the participants that Pakistan has more than 9 ecological regions which could be developed for biodiversity tourism. The guest speaker explained that tourism contributed 5.9% to the economy of Pakistan in 2022. He ended the lecture by emphasizing the need to develop sustainable tourism development approach in Pakistan.