Women Led Entrepreneurship in Pakistan: Tourism Industry

CBS organised a speaker session titled “Women Led Entrepreneurship in Pakistan: Challenges and Opportunities in the Tourism Industry” on October 18, 2022. The session was led by Zehra Shallwani, Co-Founder of Dastaan Tours (Pvt) Ltd. Dastaan Tours is a social enterprise that aims to promote sustainable tourism in Pakistan and to bridge the gap between heritage tourism and technology by introducing virtual reality tours. 

The highly interactive session was attended by the LUMS community, mainly the students who posed critical questions to dissect the current tourism blueprint of Pakistan. The in-depth discussion touched upon topics such as the gap in the gender ratio in Pakistan’s tourism industry, the threats to the ecosystem caused by growing tourism, the future of medical and sports tourism in Pakistan, the preservation of historical sites in the country, the growing popularity of virtual tours, the critical issue of safety in tourism, and the development of sustainable tourism for the masses. 

Tourism is one of the most rapidly growing industries in Pakistan and is potentially one of the largest generators of national revenue however, is one of the least spoken about topics. Thus, the importance of such conversations cannot be emphasized enough. CBS conducts active efforts to bring such pertinent discussions to the forefront.