The religious tourism management has been the subject of much attention in academic literature and has made a significant contribution in creating soft image in tourists' behavior. Pakistan has one of the best archaeological and religious historical sites in the world. Buddhist civilization at Taxila, Islamabad, Swat, and Takht Bai are of great interest for tourists from Japan, Korea, Thailand, and other countries. The aim of this chapter is to determine the promotion of religious tourism management for creating soft image in Pakistan. In this regard, initiatives of religious tourism by federal government are analyzed while incorporating input from easing immigration services, establishment of national tourism coordination board, infrastructure development, and pollution free environment, which leads to the soft image. An exploration of the nature of soft image requires examining the two key drivers: cognitive approach and the more recent cognitive-affective approach. Using quantitative method, various analysis techniques will be applied.
TopIntroduction
Religion as an organized system of belief is typically related with trust and faith. It is defining category of getting policy results and connected with the idea of tourism (Raj & Griffin, 2017). Based on the life choices and the ideal management of holy sites the perception of visitors can be developed positively (Hoseinipor et al., 2019). Several reasons are considered as the motivating factors for people to visit sacred places. From plain curiosity to deeply religious connectivity, travelling is generally placed in getting close association with supernatural ability and power (Ahmad, 2016; Korstanje et al., 2018; Wiltshier & Griffiths, 2019; Alipour et al., 2017; Tkaczynski et al., 2018). The experience of change in the form of religious tourism ascertain managing authorities to arrange facilities for the respective people in an adequate manner (Kim & King, 2019; Heidari et al., 2017).
The role of state institution to develop an interest among religious travelers through concerned institutions is undeniable. It satisfied religious actors by providing informal orientation in the form of transport, accommodation and food of their choice (Ali et al., 2019 Malodia & Singla, 2017; Garayeva & Naumov, 2016; Piva et al., 2019). The application of cognitive approaches is based on scientific assumption to support the idea that religious tourism is not only concerned with emotional attachment, but it is also relevant with the well managed religious sites (Sharma & Swamy, 2019; Durán et al., 2018; Wiltshier & Griffiths, 2016; Alipour et al., 2017). It is essential to develop a positive image because of the decades long war on terrorism which direct a negative message to the world community regarding the spiritual and religious disagreement among the stakeholders in Pakistan (He et al., 2019).
Figure 1. Nankana Sahab, Sikh Religious Destination Pakistan
The intensified situation replaces the poor law and order situation in the recent years of war against non-state actors. They are living inside the country and operated from areas around the regional political players (Almaimoni et al., 2018). This phenomenon reflect that a strong management of destinations related to the culture and history of religions that are other than Muslims be developed in accordance with international standards of the marketing (Lochrie et al., 2019). The state-of-the-art architecture and interaction of trained staff with the visitors coming from various religious background and identities project a suitable image (Ali & Maharani, 2019). In the context of perception, best management of the destinations is truly a live experience for tourists to see and realize the importance of preserved culture by the hospitable country like Pakistan. Such steps directly influence the positive image of the state, following the negative response from world community (Handriana et al., 2019; Verma & Sarangi, 2019). It is experienced that different traveling advisories are being issued in favor of Pakistan which reflect significant improvement in security situation and peaceful environment of destinations (kim & kim, 2019).
Figure 2. Chandragup Mud Volcano: Hindu Destination Pakistan