PESHAWAR: Over 95,000 tourists visited various scenic destinations across Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province during the Eid Al-Fitr holidays, the provincial tourism authority said on Thursday.
KP, with its scenic mountains, valleys and lakes, is home to popular tourist destinations like Swat, Malam Jabba, Abbottabad, Kaghan, Naran and Shogran, which attract visitors from across Pakistan.
Pakistan observed the three-day Eid Al-Fitr holidays — celebrated by Muslims worldwide to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan — from Mar. 31 to Apr. 2.
“Tourists flocked to various tourist destinations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Eid-Al-Fitr,” Muhammad Saad, the spokesperson for the KP Tourism Authority, said in a statement on Thursday.
“More than 95,000 tourists were recorded in three days.”
He said the highest number of tourists visited the province’s scenic Naran valley, 42,111, during the Eid holidays and the Galiyat region saw 28,000 visitors during the same time period.
At least 16,400 tourists visited Kumrat valley, he added.
“Tourism police personnel are performing their duty at various tourist destinations,” the official said.
Tourism in KP saw a massive surge during last year’s Eid holidays, with an increase of over 360 percent compared to 2023.
According to data from the provincial tourism authority, at least 580,000 tourists visited northwestern Pakistan during the five-day holidays in April 2024.
While Pakistan’s inflation has significantly decreased compared to last year, militant attacks, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have surged recently.
March saw militant attacks in Pakistan exceed 100 for the first time in over nine years, making it the deadliest month since 2015, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).
The think tank reported that KP and southwestern Balochistan province were the hardest-hit provinces, although eastern Punjab and southern Sindh also witnessed a rise in militant activity.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused Afghanistan of providing shelter to militant groups targeting civilians and security forces in cross-border attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a claim that has been denied by Kabul’s authorities.
Northwest Pakistan sees influx of over 95,000 tourists during Eid holidays
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Northwest Pakistan sees influx of over 95,000 tourists during Eid holidays
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Naran Valley saw the highest tourist turnout, says the provincial tourism authority
- Northwestern Pakistan is home to scenic mountain landscapes, lush valleys and picturesque lakes
Pakistan to hold major spectrum auction early next year, paving way for 5G rollout
- Pakistan’s IT Minister Shaza Fatima says auction aimed for late January or early February to ease congestion, improve Internet quality
- ECC cleared auction framework after international benchmarking, as finance minister warns unsold spectrum causes economic losses
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plans to complete a major telecom spectrum auction at the beginning of the next year, paving the way for the country’s first rollout of 5G services, Information Technology Minister Shaza Fatima said on Tuesday.
The planned auction comes amid mounting pressure on Pakistan’s telecom networks, with users and businesses complaining of slow Internet speeds and frequent disruptions as limited spectrum struggles to serve a population of about 240 million.
“Our effort is to complete this auction by the last week of January or the first week of February,” the minister told a joint news conference. “The quality of Internet service in Pakistan is not at par with international best practices or even regional standards, and one of the fundamental reasons for this is that spectrum is simply not available.”
She said Pakistan’s entire population currently operates on about 274 megahertz of spectrum, compared with around 600 megahertz in Bangladesh, leading to congestion that she likened to “trying to run eight lanes of traffic through two lanes.”
The minister said the government plans to auction nearly 600 megahertz of spectrum — the largest such auction in Pakistan’s history — including several frequency bands that have never been auctioned in the country before.
The move would improve 3G and 4G services and introduce 5G in Pakistan for the first time, she added.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said earlier at the news conference that the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had approved recommendations for the auction prepared by the Spectrum Advisory Committee after extensive consultations with telecom operators, regulators and consumers.
“Unsold spectrum directly translates into economic loss,” he said, adding that the committee had engaged a reputable international consultant, National Economic Research Associates, to advise on spectrum pricing, payment terms and auction design based on international benchmarks.
He said the government had reviewed those recommendations using what he described as a “Pakistan-first lens” before securing ECC approval, with the proposal now set to go to the cabinet for final clearance.
