ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has established separate immigration counters for foreigners at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport to reduce clearance delays, an official said on Sunday, with the facility to be extended to airports nationwide.

The development follows Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s directives to authorities this year to improve services at airports across Pakistan to facilitate passengers, businesspeople, tourists and overseas Pakistanis as part of the country’s efforts to boost tourism and foreign investment.

Pakistan, bolstered by a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, is currently making efforts for export-led economic growth and has signed several agreements and memorandums of understanding with a number of countries, particularly those in the Gulf and Central Asia.

“Practical steps have been initiated to improve the immigration system and new immigration counters have been established for foreign passengers at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore this week,” Mehmood Ali Khokhar, a Federal

Investigation Agency (FIA) spokesperson, told Arab News.

“With these new counters, foreign travelers will no longer face unnecessary delays in immigration clearance.”

Pakistan’s travel and tourism market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 6.75 percent between 2025 and 2029 to reach an estimated market volume of $5.53 billion by 2029, according to Statista, a German online platform that specializes in data gathering.

Similar immigration counters would gradually be established at all international airports across the country, according to Khokhar. This would also make the immigration process faster and easier for Pakistani citizens returning home.
“The purpose of these measures is to upgrade immigration services to meet international standards,” he added.