Chitral: Like being reported from all over Pakistan residents of cities are rushing to cooler heights to escape the heat and to spend their Eid holidays which have been generous this year due to weekend joining up before and after the official holidays. Whether it is Murree, Swat, Kaghan,Gilgit or Chitral, hordes of vehicles carrying tourists can be seen rushing upwards blocking the roads and causing traffic jams in many places.
In Chitral the main thrust is towards Kalash valleys which do not have the capacity to accommodate such a large number of tourists at a time, therefore problems of accommodation and food are being reported. However learning from the experience, tourism infrastructure can be developed to cater for such occasions when tourists turn up in large numbers to a particular place. Shandur festival coming up which is likely to draw crowds of tourists can be taken up as an experiment in this regard. .. CN report, 07 Jun 2019
2 thoughts on “Citizens rush to touristic destinations on Eid holidays”
Chitral is not ready to take so much tourist influx therefore problems are being reported. However it is good to hear that people, particularly in upper Chitral are renting out their guest rooms (which are usually located outside the main house) to tourists. This is a good development in the field of encouraging tourism.
Dear Editor,
I would like to draw the attention on few points which are directly linked to tourism or promotion of tourism. If it is possible you may publish it separately.
The security situation of Chitral must be of high priority. All tourists coming to Chitral must be under the antenna of security agencies. The purpose of saying is not that the security agencies shall be with the tourist with their guns. The intelligence and information about the visitors of Chitral are very important. It must be responsibility of each civil society members to coordinate with security agencies, if they found any suspicious activity they must report to the law enforcement agencies. It is also important for the people who are visiting under the name of political parties or religious clerics must control on their emotions. Sometime, these people work for their own interest rather than the interest of Chitral or Pakistan.
The security on the road from Chitral to Dir must be in high priority of the security agencies. Any small incident will destroy the tourism industry of the country and particularly for Chitral. Again the public must cooperate with the security agencies. As you know ?Peace and Security is the top Priority for Tourists.? There are lots of good places in tribal areas or other part of Pakistan why tourist are not going there?
The tourism department of Pakistan or KPK must try to educate the tourist through posters, TV ads or any other way, how to behave with the local nature and people. Last year I saw many tourist were in Chitral with their loud Pashtu music and with their charpaies. They were camping inside the gardens of local people, using their vegetables and fruits as granted and disturbing their privacy. The tourists shall be educated that nothing is free in Chitral it is also part of the other world ?this particular point is more related to local tourists?. The other important point is to highlight to behave with the environment and nature. They have not to throw their wastes outside their cars or camping sites. We also observed that some of the tourists are taking pictures of people without their permission, particularly females and it must be banned.
Road and other means of communication or restaurants and hotels are for long run plans.
Regards,