Potential Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Tourism Industry of Pakistan: A Review

Authors : Lala RUKH, Farukh KHAN, Nafees MOHAMMAD

Pages : 601-611

Doi:10.21547/jss.740036

View : 35 | Download : 17

Publication Date : 2020-10-31

Article Type : Review Paper

Abstract :In this article an attempt has been made to review the historic trends in foreign and domestic tourism in Pakistan with the aim to calculate expected loss due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For this purpose grass domestic product (GDP) growth in relation to tourism activities and COVID-19 cases were analyzed. This review revealed that tourist activities in Pakistan are growing with high level of fluctuations. After a spill of war on terrorism, Pakistan re-initiated domestic tourism 2009. The 2010 flood destroyed the road network and tourism was waned again. In 2011 tourism department re-framed tourist activities again. As per estimate, during 2012-19, Pakistan invested more than 90 billion of rupees on motorways, hotels, parks and archaeological sites and was looking forward toward 2020 summer season for some betterment in tourism, but COVID-19 appeared on the world horizon and all sorts of economic activities, including tourism were brought to zero. During 1994-2019 tourism contributed 5.7 to 7.1 % to the gross domestic products (GDP) of Pakistan. The loss is equivalent to US$ 20.18 billion. Pakistan will suffer for another few years. Even if the vaccine for COVID-19 arrives in the market, the loss will be irreparable. We have to learn survival in the presence of coronavirus, and prepare standard operating procedure (SOPs) for each business including tourism.
Keywords : COVID 19, Domestic Tourism, War Against Terror, Foreign Tourists, Tourism Industry, Economic Loss