Brand Pakistan by Dilnawaz Inqalabi

The government has decided to celebrate 2007 as the Visit Pakistan year. Regardless of the debate concerning whether all stakeholders especially overseas Pakistanis, tour operators were taken into confidence and whether there is any discussion with western governments namely USA,UK and Europeans to ease the negative travel advisories regarding Pakistan. Malaysia celebrating its 50th independence anniversary has already started a vigorous TV campaign for a visit Malaysia year 2007. In Pakistan government initiatives, I have learned through previous experiences, are most of the time riddled with red tape of bureaucracy, half hearted, half baked and ill conceived, but nevertheless it's a start, keeping our fingers crossed that it will be a success. Tourism today is one of the biggest industries in the world; it brings employment, opportunities and equality to otherwise less developed areas.

Pakistan is the best kept secret of the tourism industry. its Northern areas, its festivals, its cultural and religious tourism to name a few. Here we want to talk about the feel good factor that Pakistanis are experiencing due to a new found confidence in economic and geopolitical spheres that Pakistan is enjoying at the moment. The Brand Pakistan discussion is about how ordinary Pakistanis, and forums like ATP and Other Pakistan, play a part in defining what is meant by the label " made in Pakistan" and brand Pakistan in terms of culture and the tourism potential of Pakistan.

Everyone has their own ideas on Pakistan and ATP has ably demonstrated our "unity in diversity". Surely ATP and Other Pakistan are the right forums for "visit Pakistan 2007" discussions and we would like to explore avenues of participation and promotion by ATP and Other Pakistan readers, contributors for Brand Pakistan and how Pakistan tourism can become a permanent spot on the world tourism map.

We would like to link the ATP photo quiz, stories about festivals, destinations, food culture music and art of Pakistan and hopefully we can make it a year long exercise updated at regular intervals. Institutions like the national flag carrier (PIA) can become a calling card for Pakistani tourism and hospitality. State run Pakistan TV world and global Channels, through their reach in Middle East Europe and USA, can be the ambassador for brand Pakistan, like the bilingual TV programmes from Duteche welle Germany, French TV. The successful business model based on public –private sector partnership can be adopted between PTV and major Pakistani satellite channels like Indus group, ARY, Geo and Jang Group, AAJ TV. The Aim is to bring back the Pakistan Diaspora; foreigners will definitely follow in their footsteps, see link below for more details- http://bradistanuk.blogspot.com

- 14th August 2007

Disclaimer: The views expressed in guest posts are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Other Pakistan.