Types of Tourism In Pakistan
Religious Tourism
Pakistan is famous for shrines of great religious figures of the world. There are several places of great attraction in Pakistan for Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh. Gurdwaras at Nankana Shib and Hasanabdal are a great attraction for Sikhs all over the world. Then there are shrines of Sufis and Saints, which attracts a large number of pilgrims from different regions. These include the Shrine of Dada Ganja Baksh, Shah Hussain, Main Mir, Bahauddin Zakaria and Baba Farid, in Punjab and Lal Shahbaz Qalander and Shah Abdul Latif Bhatti in Sindh. Besides these the Kalash people in Chitral attract a number of Greeks and other foreigners.
Archaeological Tourism
Pakistan is the cradle of two ancient civilizations – the Indus valley civilization and the Gandhara civilization. In particular, excavations of the Gandhara civilization represent one of the oldest remains of Buddhist culture in Asia and are of special spiritual significance for the Buddhist living in the affluent regions of East and South East Asia. Then there are monuments built by successive dynasties and rulers, particularly the Mughal. These include the Royal fort, Badashahi Mosque, Shalimar garden, tombs of emperor Jahangir and empress Noor Jahan, Rohtas fort and the Shah Jahan Mosque.
Adventure Tourism
Pakistan has some of the world’s highest mountains in a knot of four great mountain ranges, the Hindukush, Pamir, Karakoram and Himalayas. The country has the distinction of having five peaks above 8000 meters each including the second loftiest mountain of K-2. The country has largest glaciers on the globe out side the polar region. These mountain and glacier offer tremendous attractions for adventures.
Conventional Tourism
This form of tourism includes festivals, sports, customs, traditions and arts and crafts. Among the festival Basant is arguably the most popular form of international tourism prospective celebrated in February – March to herald the spring, Basant attract a large number of foreign tourists. The festivals of Kalash tribe such as Chilim-Jusht or Joshi, Uchal, pool and Chaus or Chitirmus also attracts the tourists.