Murree Tragedy Affect On Tourism Industry In Pakistan

After the recent tragedy befalls upon the people as 23 people died who visited Murree on January 8th and got stranded due to heavy snowfall and experienced blocked roads, cold weather and outrageous hotel and food price hikes with no way home. Book international tour from Pakistan.

An inquiry of the recent event and negligence of government officials, police and authority, were found in the inquiry committee report led by the government. 

According to the recommendations, the Chief Minister, Mr. Usman Buzdar removed 15 officials, including Rawalpindi commissioner, deputy commissioner, CPO, Murree assistant commissioner, Murree Assistant Superintendent Police, from their serving positions according to the recommendations of Murree inquiry committee.

According to the Murree inquiry committee report, there were significant critical laps in the following areas.

• Risk assessment failure 

• Lack of concerned leadership at district, divisional and the tehsil level

• No Control Room at Murree district department

• No, follow up ensuring deployment of concerned assets

• No coordination among various departments for helping Muree tourists

Kaghan Valley Closure for Tourism

 

After the Muree snowstorm tragedy hit, the government of KPK banned tourists from entering Kaghan valley from 9th January 2022. Many people had chosen to visit the Kaghan Valley for snowfall and sightseeing after the Murree incident. 

 

 

The local authorities justified that the ban's purpose is to safeguard the tourists from facing any disaster similar to the Murree incident due to heavy snowfall. 

 

The routes of Mahandri to Kaghan were also closed down as Naran, Shogran, and Kaghan received heavy snowfall in the region. 

 

After 16th January 2022, Shorgan and Kaghan valley has been reopened for all tourists and travels after district administration allowed lifting the ban. 

After reopening all concerned tourism activities in the area the government also cleared the roads connecting Mansehra and Naran with Shogran area were cleared of snow as well. Book Naran and Kagan tour packages at chaep rates.

After the Murree tragedy, Murree was closed down on 7th January 2022 and the ban was extended to 17th January, 2022. Murree was reopened but public response was poor as only 1028 tourist cars entered the town. 

 

The government has imposed restrictions, and people are being briefed for all mandatory safety measures like driving slow, not parking car along roadside, etc. The Murree Expressway, after reopening, has seen significantly less traffic than usual. 

 

 

Before the tragedy of Murree tragedy, 100,000 cars entered Murree hill station, but now the authorities have set the limit for only 8000 cars per day to enter the town from 5am to 5pm.

 

The tourists who reached Murree also complained about high prices for all services. The number of tourists has also decreased overall and the tourism business has been dramatically affected. 

 

The Met Office had given alarm of another spell of heavy snowfall in Galiyat, Murree, and other cities from January 18th 2022 to January 20th 2022. The surrounding area temperatures are expected to reach below freezing point as well.

 

The government has made a contingency plan to deal with any unwanted situation. Two control rooms have been made operational for emergency complaints at Deputy Commissioner’s Office Rawalpindi and Assistant Commissioner Officer Murree, which run 24 hours.  

While the Murree Tragedy has passed, its after-effects are still being experienced as many families have raised their voices for boycotting Murree and penalizing all involved in taking advantage of the grave situation as many tourists who were left stranded with no help from government officials.  

 

 

While the PTI government has been boosting its tourism-friendly policies through easing visa restrictions for various countries, the reality of the tourism situation is entirely opposite. 

 

Such massive negligence regarding the Murree incident and the resulting loss of lives puts the government in a sensitive situation as to what kind of actions they would undertake in the future to assist and resolve such natural calamities and incidents. 

 

In the recent Murree tragedy, it was observed that 

 

• Travel Advisory services were not available to the public

• No upcoming weather update available on local radio stations

• Poor crisis management facility 

• No information given regarding carbon monoxide poisoning in case of heavy snowfall 

• No control over hotel price hike and services in Murree

• No control over the number of vehicles entering Murree

• Poor Infrastructure management of Murree hill station

• No emergency services or helpline for tourists of Murree

• No delivery of Pakistan Metrological System weather warning 

• No contingency plan in case of crisis

 

Pakistan's northern areas are filled with beautiful areas and natural wonders like Gilgit, Hunza, Kaghan, Naran, among others, and incidents like recent tragedy of Murree will surely not help promote tourism activities in the region. 

 

The government needs to step forward and implement proper tourism promotion steps for promoting tourism at an international level and regain the people’s trust through activities that reinforce and promote tourism at the international level.