Ravaged Lands: An Investigation of Factors Affecting Pakistan’s Tourism Industry

Abstract

Since the war on terror initiated in 2001 after the attack on the Twin Towers, situated in New York, United States. The US led invasion of Afghanistan has spilled its consequences across its Eastern border. Since then Pakistan has been a victim of terrorism and religious extremism due to its strategic alliance with the United States of America. One industry that was completely obliterated by this situation was Pakistan’s Tourism industry. The objective of this research was to prove whether societal factors affect the tourism industry or cultural factors affect the tourist industry or the law and order situation has hampered the tourists’ activities in Northern areas of Pakistan. Developing a questionnaire and validating its reliability, statistical techniques proved that cultural factors had a more significant impact on Pakistan’s tourist mindset.

Keywords: Tourism; Cultural factors; Societal factors; Victims of terrorism; War on terror