Abstract

Tourism has recently emerged as one of the world's most important industries. Heritage tourism, on the other hand, is among the tourism industry's sectors with the fastest growth. Heritage destinations are developed in large part by tourist attractions, especially historical ones. Pakistan's cultural centre, Lahore, is home to a major Mughal legacy. Due to the amount and calibre of its historical attractions, it is an important historical tourist destination in Pakistan. Despite Lahore's excellent heritage tourism potential, tourism hasn't always grown as it should because of a number of challenges. This paper’s goal is to pinpoint possible Lahore historical sites for tourism promotion. In addition, the difficulties facing Lahore's heritage tourism industry and some recommendations based on theoretical analysis and empirical research are provided. This paper discusses a variety of theoretical viewpoints on the growth of tourist destinations, covering the marketing and distribution of destinations, the cost of destinations, how terrorism affects destinations, and the identity and integrity of destinations. In order to gather and analyse empirical data, these theories are employed. Lastly, the author provides a proposal suggestion on how to make the Mughal Gardens a more desirable historical tourist attraction in Lahore.

Key Words

Mughal Gardens, Tourist Destination, Terrorism, Tourism, Lahore

Introduction

Due to the presence of the Indus and Gandhara Civilizations, as well as a substantial Mughal heritage, Pakistan has the potential to be a terrific tourism destination for anyone who is interested in culture and heritage. Because there are holy sites for many different religions all around Pakistan, the nation is also well-known for its religious tourism. These holy places are visited by pilgrims from many nations and religions. Pakistan's top five tourist sites are Lake SaifulMaluk, Karimabad, Taxila, the Karakoram Highway and Lahore (Kamran, 2013). As the capital of Pakistan's Punjab state, Lahore receives a considerable influx of tourists every day from all across Pakistan. People travel to Lahore for a wide range of reasons, including business, health care, employment, and recreation. The majority of travellers end their vacation by touring Lahore's historic landmarks, regardless of their initial motivation for travelling there. The Lahore Museum, Lahore Fort, Shalimar Garden, Royal/Badshahi Mosque, Hiran Minar, Emperor Jahangir Tomb, Hiran Minar, Anarkali Bazar, and others are some of Lahore's most well-known historical landmarks. Most of them are magnificent Mughal Gardens. The intentions of this paper are to identify the potential historical sites in the "Mughal Gardens in Lahore" region of Pakistan as a potential research topic, as well as the challenges currently facing the city's tourism sector and suggestions for how to address them in order to improve the gardens' historical tourist appeal. Due to the investigative character of this study, two distinct research questionnaires were created in order to collect empirical data. In total, 37 travellers and 5 tourism department representatives were questioned. The majority of the interviews were done in person in Lahore, Pakistan, but questionnaires were also distributed through email to respondents. According to S. B. McClelland, email is the most economical and time-saving tool for conducting surveys or interviews  (McClelland, 1994). However, advanced applications like WeChat and WhatsApp have also been used to connect with respondents. It makes it simple and liberating for both the interviewer and the interviewee to send surveys and receive accurate and prompt responses from respondents. The majority of respondents (30) are from Pakistan; however, 2 Americans of Pakistani descent, 1 Chinese visitor, 1 British citizen of Pakistani descent, and 3 people from the Indian Punjab were also interviewed. The respondents ranged in age from 20 to 60 and had a variety of educational backgrounds. The age groupings were split into five groups, nevertheless. Interviews were conducted with 15 respondents in the first age group (20-30 years), 8 respondents in the second (31-40 years), 8 participants in the third (40-45 years), 4 respondents in the fourth (46-55 years), and 2 respondents in the last group (56-60 years). 30 males and 7 women out of 37 respondents were surveyed. To safeguard the anonymity of government personnel, the researcher will use the identities Official A, Official B, and Official C in this paper rather than their real names. The names that the survey respondents who are travellers gave are all pseudonyms in order to protect their privacy.

Research Method

Deductive and inductive methodology are the two types of logical scientific approaches engaged in writing literature (Trochim, 2006). Through these two methods of broad thought, further information is discovered (Hyde, 2000).

Figure 1



Research Technique

In this postulation, the author intends to collect precise information via a survey that includes both open and closed finished inquiries. A similar survey was distributed to tourists and government officials in Lahore, Pakistan, to record their reactions to the Mughal Gardens in Lahore. As a result, both quantitative and qualitative, or subjective, research methods will be used for this proposal. In other words, the combined method will be used. The combined approach will assist the analyst in gathering important information about the research topic and responding to research questions in the most effective manner. Similarly, Bhattacharjee observes that "the joint use of qualitative or subjective and quantitative information can help create remarkable understanding into a perplexing social marvel that is not accessible from one or the other kind of information alone, and thus, blended mode plans that consolidate subjective and quantitative information are frequently extremely appealing." (Bhattacherjee, 2012).

Method of Data Collection

The method used to collect data or information is a key element of the design of the study, and the researcher must use utmost caution and creativity to do so. Information can be gathered in numerous ways and from numerous sources. Surveys, meetings, and perceptions are the most well-known methods of gathering information (Sekaran, 2016). For information collection, email and fax can also be used (Smith, 2005). The information can be sorted as essential and optional also called primary and secondary.

Figure 2



Results and Discussion

Gardens of Lahore are the main Heritage Traveler’s Destination of Pakistan

At the point when this inquiry was posed by respondents, the intriguing realities were documented. The explanation that Lahore is Pakistan's most important heritage site was accepted by 15 of the 37 respondents and 20 of them strongly agreed. Only one respondent disagreed, while two others offered no comments. The percentage of responses from responders is seen in the graph below.

Figure 3



Gardens Built Heritage Tourism is the Quickest Developing area of the Travel Industry

According to Poria, the heritage travel industry is one of the most rapidly expanding sectors of the travel industry (Poria, 2003). This question was posed in order to learn what vacationers in Lahore think about this relevant area of the travel industry. While posing this question to tourists at numerous garden cultural sites in Lahore, fascinating realities were recorded. 10 out of 37 respondents agreed, twenty-one respondents strongly agreed, and only four respondents disagreed with the way the heritage travel industry is rapidly developing. However, two respondents expressed no sentiment. The graph below depicts the level of response from respondents.

Figure 4



The Possible Built Heritage Gardens Attractions of Grand Trunk (G.T) Road Lahore

This inquiry was asked from vacationers to counter-check the authorities' feelings. At the point when this inquiry was posed, every one of the 30 respondents had named The Shalimar Gardens and Lahore Fort Gardens. , 5 out of 37 respondents additionally Shahdara Gardens and 2 respondents added the name of Wah Gardens, Chauburji Gateway Garden, Gulabi Bagh, and one additional respondent included Ranjit Singh's Hazuri Bagh on the list. The chart shows the level of sightseers who like to visit diverse heritage attractions in Lahore.

Figure 5



According to Baker, in this age of globalisation, it is critical for traveller location directors to distinguish the basic achievement factors that may affect destinations in either direction. They could undoubtedly create while annihilating the destination. These elements could be difficulties or opportunities for vacationer location development (Baker, 2008). The Directorate General of Archaeology (DGOA) and the travel industry in Lahore were facing numerous challenges. Various inquiries were posed by DGOA and Tourism authorities, as well as vacationers, to understand the primary difficulties faced by the travel industry in Lahore.

The Channels Used in Promoting Built Heritage Gardens

The tourist department has its own official website, which, according to both office representatives who answered this question, offers details on practically all of the key tourist locations in Punjab territory as well as details on visit packages and media. They also stated that the tourism department is collaborating with various educational institutions to raise awareness of the gardens' heritage and market/promote it. According to officials, in order to attract domestic and foreign business travellers to Lahore, the 

tourism department is now working with a variety of corporate connections.

The Price of Lahore as Built Garden Heritages Tourist Places

According to a tourist department official, while Lahore has very unique garden heritage attractions, we were unable to charge high prices for Lahore as a tourist destination. The primary reason for this was Pakistan's dire economic situation. People were becoming unemployed as a result of the ongoing energy crisis in recent years. Due to Pakistan's poor reputation, foreign visitors were likewise reluctant to travel there. They added that entry fees to all monuments in Lahore are quite low to entice visitors to see the city's various landmarks. Aside from that, the government has improved infrastructure in Lahore. For instance, the Punjab government has started offering metro buses in Lahore, and by October 2020, an orange line Metro train will be added. They claim that Lahore is the first city in Pakistan to offer both a metro bus service and a passenger orange train. They added that earlier military operations against terrorists had improved the law-and-order situation. Based on the results of the author's interviews with two respondents, "Officials of concern departments and tourists," the author asked how to facilitate access to heritages for the international community in particular. The author would like to propose that the DGOA, Tourism Department, and Interior Ministry be linked (visa category services facilities).

Figure 6



The Function of Tour-Visit Operators

Officials from the tourism department responded to this inquiry. As they have indicated, tour-visit operators play a significant part in the growth of tourist destinations. The public government authority develops destination advancement strategies and employs the private sector, particularly tour visit operators, to carry them out. Because they interact with tourists directly through social media and other channels, offer services, and encourage them to visit again, tour operators help destination managers promote a place.

Figure 7



Conclusion

Through discussion and analysis, it has been determined that the accompanying issues must be resolved in order to make built gardens heritage a superior heritage tourist destination. To market the potential built gardens heritage attractions, useful routes for distribution and unique promotional tactics should be employed. In this regard, the allocation of funds from provincial and central governments should be expanded, and proposed interlinking between departments can also help to share the collected amount with each other, particularly to the DGOA for conservation and preservation, as well as for maintenance. To increase the confidence of domestic and international visitors, in general, the tranquil atmosphere should be preserved throughout the nation and heritage gardens in particular. The management of the nation's current tourist emergency crisis depends on a task force team for historic tourism management being well-prepared. The country's image as a security risk for travellers should be maintained and improved on a regular basis. Aside from improving peace conditions, and better infrastructure facilities, well-prepared tour guides, and tour-visit operators can assist the concerned government departments, their appropriate educational training, and licence must be dependable with their satisfactory performances. The federal and provincial governments should continue to work hard to improve the local economy.

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