Daily Times

A consultative workshop on Pakistan’s National Tourism Competitiveness Index (NTCI) has proposed a customized framework and a toolkit for Pakistan to measure its tourism economy and benchmark the industry against the regional and international economies.

The workshop was jointly organized by Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) and World Bank Group (WBG) here and was attended by the relevant federal and provincial stakeholders, private sector, industry experts and academia. During the event, NTCI’s framework and the associated dashboards were presented to the participants, which will help pave way for a nationwide depository of tourism statistics, enabling the authorities to collect and disseminate the industry trends.

The event also included a panel discussion on ‘Resilient and Responsible Tourism for Pakistan’, moderated by Kiran Afzal, Senior Private Sector Specialist, WBG. The panelists underlined the need for responsible tourism, minimizing sector’s footprint on the ecosystem, safeguarding heritage and sharing economic gains with the local communities. On the occasion, WBG Operations Manager Gailius Draugelis said, “we are aware of the untapped potential of the country’s travel and tourism industry and remain committed to working with the federal and provincial governments the for tourism sector’s resilience and competitiveness.”

Practice Manager for the Finance Competitiveness and Innovation team of WBG Gabi Afram affirmed institution’s continued support for the government of Pakistan to realize its vision for destination planning and tourism sector development in the country. “World Bank Group is pleased to support PTDC in the efforts to promote a resilient and inclusive tourism sector. The development of NTCI will undoubtedly enhance sector’s capacity to collect reliable data, track industry trends, and make informed policy decisions, ” he remarked. PTDC Managing Director Aftab-Ur-Rehman Rana while appreciating the WBG’s support, highlighted the importance of the activity stating that the NTCI would allow the travel and tourism sectors to progress with the support of policy makers. “NTCI will provide a benchmark for public and private sector stakeholders to improve sector’s contributions to job creation, cultural preservation and sustainable economic growth,”he noted. The NTCI is inspired by the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘Travel and Tourism Development Index’ (TTDI). Pakistan currently ranks 83rd out of 117 countries, after jumping 6 places, in the 2021 TTDI report. The operationalization of the NTCI could contribute towards Pakistan’s sustained improvement in the TTDI ranking in coming years.