Pakistan expressed an interest in tourism as early as 1947, when it participated in the International Conference of National Tourist Organizations held in Paris. In 1949, Pakistan became a member of the International Union of Official Travel Organizations. For long, however, nothing concrete materialized. Initially Pakistan Railways was made responsible for tourism. In 1964, this responsibility was transferred to the Civil Aviation Authority. In 1970, the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation PTDC was setup . Its activities are guided by the Minister of Tourism, which was established in 1971. From then onwards, tourism became an industry in its own right in Pakistan.
The number of foreign tourists in the world is steadily increasing. Th total number of tourists in the world was 610 millions in 1993, increasing to 750 million in 1997. France received the highest number of visitors, followed by the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. In South Asia, India the highest number of tourists is 2.4 million.
The volume of foreign tourists registered in Pakistan rose steadily till 1983. when they amounted to 655000. Thereafter, the number of tourists began to decline. In 1999, 432000 foreign tourists were registered in Pakistan. The main reason for the decline was the falling number of tourists from India. An appreciable change in the composition of foreign tourists in Pakistan has taken place since 1989. By far, the greatest number of foreign tourists were from India. In 1999, the percentage share of India fell to 15. The United Kingdom became the greatest contributor to Pakistan's foreign tourists. In 1999, 29.4 percent of the total number of foreign tourists were from the United Kingdom.
The number of tourists from countries other than India increased appreciably from 1989 to 1999. The number of tourists from United States, for example rose from 36000 in 1989 to 50000 in 1999. The emergence of China and Netherlands as important contributor to foreign tourists is a recent phenomenon.