- Gaziantep Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi
- Vol: 19 Issue: COVID-19 Special Issue
- Potential Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Tourism Industry of Pakistan: A Review
Potential Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Tourism Industry of Pakistan: A Review
Authors : Lala Rukh, Farukh Khan, Nafees Mohammad
Pages : 601-611
Doi:10.21547/jss.740036
View : 18 | Download : 9
Publication Date : 2020-10-31
Article Type : Review
Abstract :In this article an attempt has been made to review the historic trends in foreign and domestic tourism in Pakistan with the aim to calculate expected loss due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose grass domestic product (GDP) growth in relation to tourism activities and COVID-19 cases were analyzed. This review revealed that tourist activities in Pakistan are growing with high level of fluctuations. After a spill of war on terrorism, Pakistan re-initiated domestic tourism 2009. The 2010 flood destroyed the road network and tourism was waned again. In 2011 tourism department re-framed tourist activities again. As per estimate, during 2012-19, Pakistan invested more than 90 billion of rupees on motorways, hotels, parks and archaeological sites and was looking forward toward 2020 summer season for some betterment in tourism, but COVID-19 appeared on the world horizon and all sorts of economic activities, including tourism were brought to zero. During 1994-2019 tourism contributed 5.7 to 7.1 % to the gross domestic products (GDP) of Pakistan. The loss is equivalent to US$ 20.18 billion. Pakistan will suffer for another few years. Even if the vaccine for COVID-19 arrives in the market, the loss will be irreparable. We have to learn survival in the presence of coronavirus, and prepare standard operating procedure (SOPs) for each business including tourism.Keywords : COVID-19, Domestic Tourism, War Against Terror, Foreign Tourists, Tourism Industry, Economic Loss