ISLAMABAD: The growing hotel industry in Pakistan is contributing significantly to the promotion of the tourism sector, which is expected to grow at a rate of three percent annually, WealthPK reports.
According to estimates, the tourism industry of Pakistan will be worth $20 billion by 2026 and it will continue to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of three percent. The figures show the growth of the hotel and tourism sectors as both are dependent on each other.
The establishment of different types of hotels including luxury, budget-friendly and economy class can further boost the tourism sector in the country. Recently, several brands of hotels have entered the market including PC’s Hotel One and Avari’s Avari Xpress. In addition, startups such as Roomph and Lets Home, which offer quality lodging services with a unique experience, also help in the development of both sectors.
More than 60,070 foreign tourists visited Pakistan during the last six years. The country is also emerging as an attractive destination for new hotel build-outs. The number of local tourists has also increased over the last decade.
The level of interest shown by investors in the sector can be judged by the fact that Faysal Bank Limited has also launched a new hotel booking platform for its customers in partnership with Pakistan’s largest hotel technology company, Ascendant. The platform facilitates people in easy and online booking of hotels of their choice.
Aneeq Malik, group head of consumer finance and payment services at Faysal Bank, told the launching ceremony of the platform that they always tried to provide the best banking service to their clients. “Faysal Bank has always placed a high value on innovation and digitalisation to make customers’ lives easier. With Ascendant on our side, our customers can check rates of hotels as well as book and pay online through our website using bank accounts, debit or credit cards,” he added.
The chief executive officer of Ascendant, Andre Privateer, said that they served the tourism sector by making the online hotel booking experience better for consumers to tell them real-time rates of more than 80 percent of hotels in Pakistan.
The hotel and tourism sectors have been interconnected. The hotel industry provides accommodation to those tourists.
The international tourism receipts were at their peak in the financial year 2019 as they stood at $948 million, showing a growth of 12 percent on year-on-year basis.
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic badly affected the tourism industry not only in Pakistan but across the globe. However, in 2021 Pakistan’s tourism sector started recovering from the negative effects of the pandemic. Although tourism is regaining momentum after the shock of Covid-19, the tourists are still cautious and look for clean, safe and suitable hotels that follow all preventive and safety measures.
Experts told WealthPK that economy and mid-scale hotels were expected to show a good recovery as most local travellers preferred them. The luxury hotels might struggle a bit with their topline amid low foreign travel and increasing competition from mid-scale hotels. However, venturing the upscale hotels into the mid-scale hotel market would be beneficial for their overall profitability.
