Any vision for tourism development, no matter how ambitious it may be, will only be as good as the government’s capacity to realize it. Therefore developing the capacity to deliver forms the first and foremost reform lever of Government of Punjab. Government recognizes that the tourism institutions in the province, in their present form, cannot deliver the requisite change and there is an immediate need to fix this. Therefore, the tourism policy includes a comprehensive tourism institutional reform package, which will be implemented immediately. The underlying theme for this package is to bring institutional structure in line with what’s needed for private sector-driven growth in the tourism sector. Moreover, government will now adopt a sector-approach with a cross-departmental oversight mechanism to ensure that there are synergies across various agencies and will create a stakeholder-led management structure to ensure that any public sector-led initiative is aligned with market needs. The details of the institutional reform package are provided below:
The institutional reform package for tourism sector is based on three key principles: a) ensuring federal-provincial coordination and alignment; b) strengthening core governance capacity within provincial government for managing tourism sector; and c) embed private sector-led growth. There are multiple objectives behind each of these principles:
a) Federal-provincial Coordination and Alignment
- Undertake active advocacy efforts with federal government on key institutional issues in the wake of 18th Amendment
- Coordinate with other provinces for alignment on critical policy issues
- Create limited but sector-focused institutional capacity in federal government for taking up relevant regulatory and policy issues
b) Strengthened Public Sector Capacity For Tourism Sector Management
- Adopt a sector-approach with a cross-departmental oversight mechanism to ensure that there are synergies across various initiatives
- Create a stakeholder-led management structure to facilitate tourism in selected strategic thrust areas rather than traditional public sector-led approach
- Strengthen the core institutional capacity of the provincial government for policy making and implementation
- Create specialized capacity in the government to manage heritage sites
c) Supporting Private Sector-Led Growth
- Develop adequate capacity to promote private investment in the tourism sector
- Support investments in the sector through effective institutional means
- Support skills development through strengthening existing public sector institutions for developing market-based skills
- Mobilize private sector to create a responsible and responsive tourism industry
- Develop regulatory structures to support sustainable tourism; and
- Remove any distortions in the market, which discourages or prevents private investment in the tourism sector