ISLAMABAD: Adventure tourism is not picking up pace in the country, with only 30 expeditions interested in climbing high peaks such as K2 and Nanga Parbat this summer.
On paper, Pakistan is a magnet for adventure tourists, Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) Secretary Karrar Haidri explained. It has all the right ingredients: good food, rich culture, beautiful historic monuments, friendly hosts and five of the highest peaks in the world above 8,000 metres as well as hundreds of smaller but more technically challenging mountains to lure climbers from all over the world.
Despite this, adventure tourists are hesitant to come to Pakistan, and prefer climbing in neighbouring countries.
“The hike in air fares for flights to northern areas and the poor road network from Gilgit to Skardu that takes tourists as long as ten hours instead of the usual four to five hours has also affected local tourism,” Mr Haidri said.
He added that the present political circumstances in the country, which have created a sense of uncertainty, are not helping.
Pakistan suffered a major setback in 2013, when 11 climbers, 10 foreigners and one Pakistani, were killed in a terror incident.
“Pakistan needs a tourism strategy to attract more foreign tourists into the country. There are many livelihoods related to tourism but that does not seem to be happening anytime soon, especially when there is no tourism department to take promotional measures and no tourism policy to devise a plan to make Pakistan a hub for tourism,” Mr Haidri said.
Nonetheless, adventure tourists interested in climbing Nanga Parbat, K2 and Gasherbrum I and II and other peaks have applied from countries like Russia, Hungary, Czech, Sweden, Germany, Iran, Poland Austria, Canada, Chile, Kazakhstan, Italy and the United States.
Mr Haidri said amateur and veteran climbers would come to Pakistan this season.
The famous mountain climber Mike Horn is also expected to arrive in Pakistan to attempt to summit Nanga Parbat this year, he said.
There are expeditions that plan to summit smaller peaks as well, such as the 6,973m high K7, 7,338m Ultar Peak, 7,925m Gasherbrum IV and the 7,027m high Spantik peak.
The numbers of expeditions are likely to rise to 40 before climbing season peaks, Mr Haidri said.
Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2018
