Trends and Patterns of Temporal Tourism Growth in Gilgit Baltistan Region, Pakistan

Abstract

This research-based study deals the growth trends of tourism in Gilgit Baltistan temporally for the first two decades of the current century. Gilgit Baltistan is globally known for tourism activities because of peculiar mountainous landscape. Secondary data in terms of tourists’ inflow is taken from the Ministry of tourism Gilgit Baltistan and trend pattern is observed for the given period. The temporal arrival of domestic tourists during 2000 to 2020 perked up from thousands to millions in the study area. Domestic tourists with 1.39 million in the year 2019 are the highest influx during the study period. The arrival of local tourists which was less than international tourists in the very beginning of study period has now much improved. The local tourists dominated the total arrival of tourists in the region now. Gilgit division hosted the highest number of domestic tourists during the mentioned years followed by Baltistan division. Seasonally, the month of summer is the main tourism season in the region. Winter is most daunting season in term of tourists’ arrival in the region. The number of international tourist’s arrival is in thousands in the study area. The highest arrival of foreign tourists is 10829 in 2019. The percentage of international tourists in Gilgit Baltistan out of total foreign tourists’ arrival in Pakistan remained less than one for many years during 2000 to 2020. The trend of domestic tourists’ influx remained increasing and upward while that of international tourists was decreasing and downward during the study duration. The study period overall witnessed growth of tourism in term of tourists’ influx in the region.