PAKISTAN: Tourism Corporation To Open Swat’s Skiing Resort In Winter

The Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakthunkhwa announced on Tuesday that chairlift at scenic Malam Jabba in Swat district would be opened for tourists by August 30, 2016, as work on the project has been completed.

In an exclusive interview, Tourism Corporation Managing Director Mushtaq Ahmed Khan said that the new chairlift would be one of the state-of-the-art tourism facilities in the picturesque skiing resort of Malam Jaba, which would formally be operational by August 30 this year.

In 2009, the chairlift was destroyed by militants. The official said that work on restoration of skiing resort was also underway with fast pace in Malam Jabba and would opened for domestic and foreign skiing lovers during upcoming winter season. He said that 12 million rupees revenue would be generated annually with the establishment of newly-constructed chairlift and skiing resort.

To remove fear of tourists, special tours were being started for domestic and foreign tourists on no profit no loss basis to explore natural beauty of Swat in addition to holding of sports and peace festivals. Special rest places for the tourists with modern facilities of hotels, tuck shops, mosques etc would also be established around Maglawar-Malam Jabba Road to facilitate the tourists.

In March, a new tourism policy has been launched following consultations of all the stakeholders with special focus to encourage private sector to invest in tourism sector besides promoting ecotourism, mountains, adventure, cultural, archeological and religious tourism in the province. He said that 75 percent touristic spots were available in the Pakhtunkhwa.

Under the new policy, efforts are being made to encourage private sector to improve facilities there besides bringing all those tourists spots in front of the tourists that was keep away from their eyes in one pretext or others. Five tourism projects would be launched in the province including cable cars facility at Naran-Manshera, water parks/fishing spots and water sports at Hund-Swabi over 400 kanals, construction of five star hotel at Changa Gali-Abbottabad, theme Park at Nathia Gali-Abbottabad with an estimated cost of Rs400 million, promotion of facilities at archeological and religious places/sites besides bolstering mountaineering tourism.

In Chitral, Tirich Mir is one of the highest and tough mountain offering a unique challenge to mountaineers and adventure tourists for climbing. The official said that his department would facilitate foreign as well as domestic mountaineer tourists. With the establishment of these tourism facilities, he expressed optimism to generate Rs 50 billion revenue in next five years through tourism industry.

“We have started online booking for these rest houses whereas modalities for the online payment are being chalked out for tourists' assistance.” The details of online booking and online payment would be available on the website of the Tourism Corporation that would save time and money of the tourists.

Under a new initiative of camping paradise, special tourists huts for their accommodation would be setup in remote destinations such as Thandyani , Shahram Mansehra, Komrat Dir Upper, Bishgram Swat and Beer Manglash Chitral that would not only provide extensive facilities to the tourists but would generate employment opportunities for the local population. He said that these tourist huts would be guarded by retired army personnel whose recruitment process was being started.

He said that Thandyani, Shahram and Bishgram huts would be operational by June 30 next. About 30 such huts would start working in next two years that would make Pakhtunkhwa a hub of tourism. He said that cooperation of media and local representatives was imperative for the allocation of huge funds for infrastructure development and addressing problems on priority basis.