Is Pakistan a mismanaged tourist destination?

For decades, tourism success has been measured through simple metrics. More arrivals. Higher occupancy. Increased spending. The logic has been straightforward. If the numbers rise, the destination must be doing well, but on the ground, a different reality is unfolding.

Across the world, destinations with record-breaking visitor numbers are struggling. Local communities feel excluded, not empowered. Infrastructure is stretched beyond capacity. Cultural spaces are diluted or commercialised. Environmental pressure is rising. Trust between residents, authorities, and visitors is weakening. What looks like success on paper often feels like failure in daily life.

The core problem is simple. Volume creates movement, not value. Tourism designed only for growth tends to extract more than it gives back. It prioritises short-term visibility over long-term wellbeing. As pressure builds, the system becomes fragile. Once communities stop believing tourism works for them, the entire destination loses its foundation.

The destinations that will thrive in the future are not those chasing more visitors at any cost. They are the ones redesigning tourism to deliver real value. Value for communities, not just investors. Value for culture, not just marketing. Value that strengthens resilience, aligns stakeholders, and protects the destination’s identity over time.

Pakistan clearly shows how volume without value can fail a destination. The country often discusses tourism with enthusiasm but little substance. The same polished sentence is repeated in meetings, conferences, and official statements: Pakistan has great tourism potential. The phrase sounds impressive, but it rarely translates into strategy, planning, or outcomes.

Anyone who wants to see the reality should visit popular destinations during Eid holidays or gazetted breaks. Roads are jammed. Basic services collapse. Waste piles up. Local residents are overwhelmed. What should be moments of cultural exchange turn into chaos.

The crowd isn't the problem itself. The problem is unmanaged volume. Domestic visitors arrive without guidance, codes of conduct, or meaningful engagement with the place. Loud music, reckless behaviour and performative consumption dominate public spaces. Tourism becomes a spectacle, not an experience.

Tourism has also turned into a social media performance. Many people travel not to understand a place, but to document themselves in it. Destinations become backdrops for selfies, noise and display. The place itself disappears behind the performance. No one respects culture, the environment or host communities, only the need to be seen.

At the same time, institutional understanding of tourism remains shallow. In meetings and policy spaces, everyone speaks like an expert. Fancy English, idealistic narratives, and borrowed global terms fill the room. Yet little of it is grounded in data, community realities or destination management. As the saying goes, in Pakistan everyone is a doctor and everyone is a Mufti, but always for others, never for themselves. Tourism suffers the same fate.

This disconnect between talk and reality is dangerous. It creates reputational risk. Visitors leave disappointed. Communities feel exploited. Investors lose confidence. And the destination becomes known not for its beauty or culture, but for disorder and mismanagement.

Real tourism only works when it creates shared value. For guests, it means authentic experiences, safety, learning and respect. For communities, it means income, dignity, participation, and protection of culture and environment. For businesses, it means long-term stability rather than seasonal spikes followed by burnout.

Numbers alone do not build resilience. A million visitors who contribute little, disrespect local norms, and overload systems are far less valuable than fewer visitors who stay longer, spend responsibly, and engage meaningfully.

The future of tourism is not bigger. It is better. It is tourism that is planned, not improvised. Tourism that sets limits where needed. Tourism that educates visitors and empowers hosts. Tourism that measures success by community wellbeing, environmental health and cultural continuity, not just arrival figures.

For Pakistan, this means moving beyond slogans. It means investing in destination management, trained professionals and local governance. It means shifting from holiday chaos to year-round planning. It means designing tourism with communities, not for photo opportunities.

Tourism has immense potential to support Pakistan’s economy and cultural identity. But potential alone means nothing without responsibility. More tourists do not automatically mean more benefit. Without meaning, tourism becomes extraction. With meaning, it becomes transformation. The future of tourism is meaningful tourism and that future cannot be postponed any longer.

It's time to redefine what success means in tourism. Instead of chasing numbers, destinations should focus on creating real value for guests, communities, and businesses. This means prioritising sustainability, stakeholder alignment and community benefit.

Pakistan's tourism industry needs a radical shift in approach. It's time to move beyond the cliches and focus on creating real experiences, preserving cultural heritage, and promoting community-led tourism. First, the industry should prioritise training qualified tourism staff, then focus on quality over quantity, and ensure tourism benefits are shared equitably among stakeholders. Only then can Pakistan's tourism industry truly flourish, and its destinations become models of sustainable and responsible tourism. It is time to redefine tourism and make it work for everyone involved.

The writer has two PhDs in paleoanthropology and tourism

Source: The News Pakistan