While 2020 was ambitiously declared to be the year of tourism in Pakistan, little did anyone know that a pandemic was waiting to squander the country’s plans. The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), which once charmed thousands of local and foreign tourists, took the hardest hit of the coronavirus-induced travel restrictions when several businesses in province were left paralysed amid pandemic scare. Although, the centre had announced reopening the tourism sector earlier this month, the valiant decision had to be put on hold as a result of the recent jump in Covid-19 cases in K-P.
As the provincial government continues to cancel various local festivals, several hotels and tourism related businesses have started losing hope while many small and medium enterprises are already debating a permanent shutdown as a consequence of unrecoverable financial losses. On the other hand, following the sudden jump in virus cases, the K-P government had to also cancel the conference of Buddhist countries which was due to take place in April of 2020 as a means of promoting religious tourism in the country. In addition to that, the government has also ordered to close a number of tourist hotspots and weekend picnic destinations including the Buddhist monastic complex of Takht-i-Bahi, Shahbaz Garhi Buddhist site in Mardan, the Abaseen Picnic View on the bank of Tarbela Lake, Hund Park in Nowshera and picnic spots along the Indus and Kabul Rivers.