According to Senior Minister for Tourism and Physical Planning and Housing, Sardar Tanveer Illyas, the government plans to establish a tourism authority in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to exploit the region’s rich tourism potential and to uplift the socio-economic conditions of the local population. The establishment of the authority will be followed by the allocation and demarcation of land for special tourism zones at district and tehsil levels.
The step is in-line with the Prime Minister’s vision of increasing the size of Pakistan’s tourism industry at par with its regional neighbours like India and China. According to the minister, regulating tourism in AJK will not only draw the attention of millions of tourists year-round but also generate economic growth opportunities in the underdeveloped region.
Pakistan lacks efficient and effective regulation in several areas of the economy like tourism and real estate. If the government can successfully establish an authority for the regulation of the tourism sector in AJK it can increase the provision of tourism-related services like better roads for travelling, security for tourists, tourism-related infrastructure development, and better telecommunication and connectivity in the region.
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