By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the Prime Minister Task Force on Gandhara Tourism Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani has said that concrete measures were underway to propel Gandhara tourism to six billion dollars within the next three years.
“Efforts to promote Gandhara tourism will soon bear the fruits, as a result of which Pakistan will benefit one and half billion dollars in the first year, three billion in the second year and six billion dollars in the third year,” he said.
The chairman said that unfortunately Pakistan was not included in the United Nations Buddhist tourist circuit, on the contrary, 70% of Buddhist sites were situated in Pakistan. Countries mentioned in the Buddhist tourism sites circuit encompassed merely 30% of the Buddhist civilization, therefore, efforts were being afoot to highlight Buddhist sites in Pakistan at international fora.
During the short span of time, since he joined the force as chairman he said different visits to Buddhist sites were arranged at Shah Allah Ditta, Sawat, and Takht Bhai in order to highlight the Buddhist sites in the country. “I have arranged a round table conference and symposium, which attracted numbers of monks from other countries who returned to their countries as ambassadors of Pakistan,” he added. Moreover, he said, the huge influx of foreign tourists would not only help to generate economic activity in the country but also help eliminate terrorism from the country.
He said that the promotion of Gandhara tourism was expected to foster stronger government-to-government, people-to-people, and business-to-business connections. At the end, the chairman said that the task force had a great surprise regarding Gandhara Civilization and tourism which would be soon unveiled.
