Northern KP Attracts Tourists, Adventure Sports Enthusiasts

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Nathiagali: Known for mesmerizing natural beauty, landscapes and waterfalls Khyber-Pakthunkhwa’s northern areas including Nathiagali have attracted an influx of tourists and adventure sports enthusiasts due to its pleasant weather following scorching heat in other parts of Pakistan.

Nathiagali, Ayubia, Khanspur, Harnoi, Bagnotar in Abbottabad, Naran, Kaghan, Saiful Malook lake and Babusir top in Mansehra, Kalam, Madyain and Malam Jabba in Swat, Kumrat in Upper Dir, and Chitral districts are flooded with tourists enjoying its pleasant weather.

“I came from Nowshera district to spend a few days in the cool weather of my favorite hill station of Nathiagali where hide and seek between sun and clouds continued amid start of monsoon season,” said Qaiser Khan, a resident of Wapda Town, Nowshera.

“I have visited almost all tourist resorts of Pakistan but the splendid natural beauty of Nathiagali has impressed me a lot,” he said, adding that it was his third trip to this hilly station of Pakistan. He said the free ride of the Ayubia chairlift has doubled his joy.

To facilitate tourists, the government has taken a number of pro-tourism measures by constructing roads in hilly areas to open up all scenic areas of KP, besides reducing the load on existing hilly stations, said Culture and Tourism Authority General Manage Muhammad Ali Syed.

Apart from the construction of hotels, he said the government has completed geo-mapping and profiling of all tourist areas, and put it on google Map aside from preparing mobile applications and apps for online booking in hotels, rest houses and camping pods.

Four integrated tourism zones (ITZs) would be developed at Mankiyal Swat, Thandyani Abbottabad, Ganol Mansehra, and Madaskhast Lower Chitral to promote sustainable ecotourism and adventure sports. These ITZs would be constructed with the financial assistance of the World Bank of USD70 million loan grant, and its feasibility studies and master planning are in the final stages.

These ITZs would be linked with Hazara and Swat Motorways through approach roads. Around 44 MoUs worth USD 8 billion were signed between different departments of KP government and international firms during Dubai Expo 2022.

Under the public sector development program, tourist resorts at Takht e Suleman, Garam Chesma, Sheikh Badin, Shalozan, and TakhtBhai were approved besides development of waterfalls in different districts.

Muhammad Ali said that waterfalls of Lamchar, Sajikot, Noori, ChajjianHaripur, Jarogo Swat, LancharDir, and Umbrella Abbottabad would be developed to promote ecotourism. He said the government has decided to establish picnic points at premises of Kundal dam Swabi, Jalozai dam Nowshera, Tanda dam Kohat, Chatri dam Haripur and Jhangra dam Haripur.

Apart from the approval of bus service for tourism purposes, and the establishment of 14 kilometers long cable car service between Upper Dir and Chitral Lower with an estimated cost of Rs32 billion; flowers and ornamental plants nurseries would be established at Kaghan and Naran to promote horticulture and fruits farming.

About 182 constables of the newly raised tourism police were deployed in Swat, Chitral, Mansehra, and Abbottabad. The development of four historical colonial-era tracks was in pipelines including Thandyani-Nathiagali having 8, 200 feet in height, 40km length and 1500 old trees belt, Thandyani-Biringali track, Dagri Bangla-Meera Jani-Nathiagali track, and Kaghan- Mahnoor track starting from Shinkyari to Kund Bangla and onward to ShaheedPani-Nadi Bangla to Musa KaMusallah.

The sports theme park would be constructed on 400 kanal land at Hund in Swabi for which MoU has already been signed. RESCUE 1122 stations were set up at Ayubia, Thandiyani, Kewai, Kalash, and Kumrat having facilities of two ambulances, one firefighting vehicle and emergency equipment.

Four more tourism authorities are being established at Kalash, Kalam, Kumrat, and Naran.

General Manager Ali Syed said the first-ever tourism helpline 1422 was made operational providing round-the-clock service to people. He said Pakistan has made a big jump by improving six points i.e. 83^rd place from 89^th in the International Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI), which reflected the Federal and KP governments’ pro-tourism policies and development projects for the promotion of the tourism sector.