Swat hotel owners want government to lift ban on tourism

Say industry has lost Rs3.5b in the last three months

The hotel owners in Swat have asked the government to lift the ban on tourism in the valley, saying that the hotel industry has suffered a loss of Rs3.5 billion in the last three months because of it.

“Despite repeated announcements, promises and making SOPs, the hotel industry is still closed,” said an officeholder of the Swat’s hotels’ association. “We demand that the government issues orders to completely open the hotel industry.”

The officeholder said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mehmood Khan belongs to Swat, but doesn’t care about the people of his area.

While the government hasn’t issued any order to open the hotels, the administration, he claimed is asking people to open their hotels for the government’s guests.

“30% of the hotels have been opened by people due to pressure from the administration,” the representative for the Swat’s hotel industry said, adding that only guests of the VIPs were allowed as there is no space for the government’s guests in guest houses.