Overview
- Punjab unveiled early implementation steps for its 'Magnificent Punjab' tourism and heritage vision on World Tourism Day, reporting mapping of roughly 170 priority heritage sites and GIS/geotagging of about 172 destinations.
- Officials say institutional groundwork is in place with a functional Punjab Tourism and Heritage Authority, a completed draft Punjab Tourism Policy, and the province’s first Archaeology and Tourism Expo held to publicize the plan.
- Restoration and development work is reported as underway at key sites including Harappa (archaeological park, Heritage Gateway, Living History Village, Decipherment Centre), Taxila, Rohtas Fort and multiple Cholistan forts, with three new museums planned for Multan, Harappa and Sialkot.
- The government has rolled out digital tools and human resources for visitor services, naming an operational 'Magnificent Punjab' app with AR/VR features, deploying a 176-member Punjab Tourism Force and a 112-member Heritage Force, and expanding youth training and internship programmes.
- Officials presented public-private partnership offers for four headline projects and framed the effort as an economic strategy to create local jobs, empower youth and raise Punjab’s international profile following Lahore’s SCO designation as Tourism and Cultural Capital.