Pakistan is, unfortunately, often in the news for negative reasons. Whether it’s Whether it be terrorism, natural disasters, or political instability, there always seems to be something going on that keeps potential tourists away. In recent years, however, another factor has been added to the list of reasons why people are reluctant to visit Pakistan: climate change.
As temperatures continue to rise and weather patterns become more erratic, cities like Karachi and Lahore are becoming increasingly difficult to navigate – and less attractive to visitors.
This year, Pakistan experienced its hottest April in over 61 years. Also, March had been the ninth driest since 1961. There have been various examples of tourists heading north immediately after arriving in the southern parts, in the months of April and even March, as temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius. Also, urban floods have disfigured Pakistan’s main cities, including Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi. This shows how the tourism sector is highly vulnerable to climate change and the income of the citizens working in this market.
There are various examples of how climate change affects urban tourism in the country. One of them, and the one we will be diving into, is Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, which has been considered a cultural hub for centuries with architectural heritage. Not only were the temperatures above normal, but also, according to Tauqeer Qureshi, former director of Punjab’s Environmental Protection Department, it has become the world’s most polluted city. He adds, “in case anyone wants to look at harmful impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, Lahore is an excellent example”.
Even though some people might be aware of how important it is to conserve the environment, it is tough to follow up on that, as there are things in the city that citizens can’t control. For example, the many industrial emissions, the burning of crop residue, brick kilns and general waste that continues to go without supervision or monitoring in the Punjab province.
On top of that, urban planning in Lahore is being carried out without considering the repercussions and the impacts it has on the environment. Tourism development expert Ashfaq Khan comments, “They (people from Lahore) are replacing the green countryside with more and more cement.” Adding that, it’s a direct contradiction of the city’s nickname, ‘City of Gardens.’
Another example of how the bad weather affects tourism in this city can be observed in the wildly known hop-on hop-off city tour buses managed by the Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab (TDCP).
Abid Shaukat, which is TDCP’s public relations officer, mentioned that the ticket sales for the double-decker bus have decreased and directly influenced Lahore’s environmental challenges. He comments that even though people are aware that the open-air upper deck is where you get the best view, as early as March this year, visitors found the upper heck too hot to sit in and instead preferred to sit in the lower, closed, air-conditioned deck.
Qureshi, mentioned before, goes beyond and adds that the failure to implement environmental regulations and a lack of political will is continuing to exacerbate Pakistan’s environmental troubles and, in turn, the condition of urban tourism in the country.
A way that the country can try and reverse all this information is with good environmental policies. Some options could be to reduce industrial emissions, work with farmers in the province to stop them from burning fields and create a more efficient and effective waste management policy for the city. Weather is one of the primary factors for tourism to develop correctly, so people in Pakistan must be conscious of the importance of its conservation and protection.