bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Ten years after development started, Pakistan's first ski resort has opened high in the Northwest Frontier, close to the Afghan border.

  Completion of the 52-bedroom Malam Jabba Resort is regarded as a landmark achievement, given that it has been plagued with problems for so long.

  'Since 1988, this project has been gathering rust and dust,' lamented Imtiaz Syed, head of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC).

  The project started with assistance from the Austrian Government and Mr Syed said it had for long been a 'haunted house'.

  But the 'huge development potential' can be tapped now the resort has at last opened in the Swat Valley, 300 kilometres (a six-hour drive) north of Islamabad with two ski slopes, two chair lifts and a skating rink amid a stunning panorama of Himalayan peaks.

   The PTDC hopes an influx of adventurous skiers will help recoup the US$2.39 million investment.

  The ski season is between November and March, but the resort is open all year with forest walks, golf, trout fishing, hunting and hot-air balloon trips around the 6,000-metre peaks which surround it.

   Malam Jabba is a unique destination for skiers. It sits at the top of a valley which cascades through terraced cornfields and apricot orchards to a turquoise river. The valley, like many parts of northern Pakistan, is already popular with trekkers and climbers.

  But it has obvious potential for skiing as it gets an average of five metres of light powder snow between January and March. The summit of the lift system is 600 metres above the resort at just over 3,000 metres.

  Significantly, the resort's completion signals what is hoped will be a new era for tourism in Pakistan.

  At the official opening ceremony, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared tourism an 'industry' and promised major concessions for investors in new projects, including duty-free imports, cut-priced 'industrial' tariffs on electricity and gas, tax holidays on new projects and long-term leases at subsidised prices.

  He said the strategy was designed specifically to attract foreign investors.

  Behind the move is Pakistan's ambition to profit from tourism like its South Asian neighbours.

  While the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India have balanced trade deficits with foreign exchange earnings from a boom in tourism over the last decade, Pakistan's tourism industry has slumbered.

  Between 1980 and 1994, the country recorded a marginal average growth of three per cent in tourist arrivals, well below the rate of many Asian coun tries. But since 1996, numbers have dropped.

  Pakistan's share of global tourism is now under one per cent, while its slice of the industry's revenue cake is a mere 0.03 per cent.

  Officials now estimate that a revival of the industry could result in more than 800,000 tourists and annual revenue of US$500 million by 2010.

  In the hotel sector alone, 50,000 additional jobs could be created.

  From a scenic standpoint, Pakistan has few rivals.

  It boasts soaring mountains and world-famous peaks in the north, the mighty river Indus, famed archaeological sites at Moenjodaro and Taxila, a great number of historic monuments, the dramatic desert of Sindh, and a coastline that is dotted with sunny, but undeveloped, beaches.

  'Pakistan is today virtually unknown in the tourism-generating markets,' Mr Syed said.

  Mushahid Hussein Sayed, Minister for Information, Sports and Culture, has now been charged with boosting tourism and has formed a task force to come up with ideas.

   Pakistan's ancient history is one area worthy of promotion.



Long-awaited resort ready to spearhead tourism drive